


A Happy Huntress

by theBastardArc77



Category: RWBY
Genre: Betrayal, Character Death, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Eventual Smut, F/M, Fluff, Romance, Volume 7 (RWBY)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-23
Updated: 2020-11-21
Packaged: 2021-03-05 01:41:02
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 15
Words: 30,755
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25456393
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/theBastardArc77/pseuds/theBastardArc77
Summary: Jaune Arc meets Fiona Thyme and let's just say that they really hit it off, but the to are major dorks and don't realize that they are slowly falling for the other.
Relationships: Blake Belladonna & Yang Xiao Long, Jaune Arc & Lie Ren, Jaune Arc & Nora Valkyrie, Jaune Arc & Oscar Pine, Jaune Arc & Tyrian Callows, Jaune Arc & Yang Xiao Long, Jaune Arc/Fiona Thyme, Lie Ren & Nora Valkyrie, Lie Ren/Nora Valkyrie, Ruby Rose & Yang Xiao Long
Comments: 1
Kudos: 25





	1. A Happy Huntress and a Knight

**Every time I think of Fiona, I just hear Lily James talking like she did in cinderella yet I also kinda hear her with a soft Irish accent (which I will make her have!). Also, don't judge me for watching that, I've been stuck with watching my cousins while they watch almost ever movie on Disney+**

**anyway! back to the new story!**

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The J of team ORNJ was walking around mantle as he had finished his job of walking children to their school. However, that wasn't the real mission, it was a ruse. Ironwood wanted Jaune undercover to keep an eye out for Robyn Hill and Her Happy Huntresses. However, Jaune really didn't want to as he had heard what they stood for, not to mention Jaune didn't much like the general as he was becoming a bit unhinged, Jaune assumed that it was because he might actually lose to Jaques Schnee, However, General Ironwood was the lesser of two evils and everyone was trying to make sure that Jaques didn't win. He had heard storied of the man and didn't like him, one thing Jaune hated about him was that he was smart, and he used his wits to his advantage and got away with all sorts of crimes. Jaune didn't like people like that, he hated people like that.

Jaune didn't like people who lead with an iron fist. Jaune always looked at the battle like a chessboard, and right now, the chess pieces were in disarray, the problem with knowing the movements of Salem and her faction was that they worked in the shadows, so Jaune was going to do just that, Jaune didn't care what orders Ironwood gave him, Jaune only had one goal, keep his friends alive and don't let Salem win. Ok, that might've been two goals but whatever. Sure Jaune was on the same side as Ozpin and his little circle, but Jaune had now learned not to trust a word out of Ozpin and Ironwood's mouths, they both thought they were better than the other and both lied so much, even to their own friends.

One of the reasons Jaune was walking around was because he was looking for a certain person that may have dealings within the small underground of Atlas and Mantle. However as he turned a corner he had crashed right into someone, he was fine but noticed that the person that he crashed into, who was a woman, was falling, Jaune acted quickly and grabbed the woman's hand and helped them back on their feet.

"Sorry about that" Jaune said with a nervous smile

"It's quite alright" Replied the woman

Jaune got a closer look at her noticed her white hair along with, Sheep ears? she also wore a pin on the left side of her chest, which was that of a Robin.

"I should've looked where I was going," the woman told him while scratching the back of her neck

 _'cute'_ Jaune thought, but he shook his head, "no it was my fault, I was in deep thought" Jaune replied with his tone becoming awkward

The woman held out her hand, "Fiona, Fiona Thyme!" the woman, Fiona, introduced her self with an awkward smile

"Jaune Arc" Jaune replied as he shook her hand

"Jaune Arc huh? Short, sweet, rolls off the tongue, Lassie's must love it" Fiona said with a giggle

Jaune smiled and chuckled, "funny, I actually use to say that" Jaune replied

Fiona giggled again, "I think ya should use it more Laddy"

"Really?" Jaune asked

"Aye" Fiona replied, "I think it works"

Jaune smiled, "So... Fiona, would you like to get something to eat?" Jaune asked awkwardly

Fiona's expression was shocked before she smiled and nodded, "why not, I could eat almost eat a horse"

Jaune smiled and he walked with her to a local fast food place that he had seen nearby. As they were walking, both were worried that if they said something awkward it would ruin a conversation, Jaune was worried he might trip over her words while Fiona was worried that she would embarrass herself, she was never good at talking, especially with someone she just met, but she was gonna try. She took a deep breath in and let it out before speaking

"So, What do ya do for a livin' Jaune?" Fiona asked

"Oh, I'm a huntsman" Jaune replied

"That true? I don't think I've seen ya 'round Mantle before" Fiona asked

"I just barely got my license and my first assignment was here in Mantle" Jaune told her

"sucks for ya then, not a lot of action here in Mantle" Fiona replied

"Actually, I like this assignment" Jaune replied

"Really? an' here I thought every huntsman was inchin' to kill some Grimm" Fiona replied

"Killed enough of those before coming to Atlas" Jaune replied "I actually like that I don't have to fight any at the moment"

Fiona smiled, "so what's the job ya got?" Fiona asked

"walking children to school" Jaune replied

"wow! Imagin ya train to kill Grimm and then you're assigned to walk wee lasses and lads to school" Fiona told him "If it were me, I would've been angry"

"Well, I'm sure my team was bummed out but I really don't care what jobs we get" Jaune replied "I just like helping the kids, not to mention they're very sweet kids"

Fiona nodded with a smile "Aye, I bet"

"So what do you do Fiona?" Jaune asked

"I'm a proud member of the Happy Huntresses" Fiona replied

"Oh, the group that works with Robyn Hill? isn't she the same person running for council right?" Jaune asked

"Aye, that's the one" Fiona replied

"That actually sounds pretty cool," Jaune said with a joyous tone

Fiona nodded, "damn right lad!" Fiona said with pride

"Well, I'm sure working under Robyn is pretty cool, I like what she has planned for Mantle" Jaune replied

"She's a hard worker and I ain't got a doubt she'll win!" Fiona said

"Also, if you don't mind me asking, your accent, you wouldn't happen to be from western Vale, would you?"

"Born and raised, came from a small town called Charmington" Fiona replied, "why do ya ask Lad?"

"No reason, in particular, I'm from the southwest of Vale originally, grew up in a small town called Paris"

"that so!? I've got me a cousin in Paris" Fiona replied

"Really? Which district does she live in?" Jaune asked

"The shopping district I believe" Fiona replied "I haven't seen me cousin nearly a year"

Jaune smiled, "same, I haven't seen my family in over two years," Jaune told her "so when did you move to Mantle?" Jaune asked

"right after I turned 18, came here to become a huntress, had training back in Vale and wanted to see what made Atlas academy so special"

Jaune nodded, "so what made it so special?" Jaune asked

Fiona's expression somewhat saddened, "nothing, not a damn thing made it special. I realized that everyone up there, in Atlas, they don't give flying fuck about the people down here" Fiona replied "So I finished my training there, and then I abandoned my team, bunch of asshats they were, only worried about killing Grimm and Bandits, never looking back and seein' how much pain both Soldier and Huntsmen caused Mantle, so I came here and decided to defend this place along with Robyn" Fiona finished

Jaune looked to her and nodded. In truth, it was the same way with Ozpin, He had caused the people of Vale and the students of Beacon pain... all because they wanted to keep an enemy secret. Jaune hated how arrogant both sides have been. But, as the saying goes, what's done in the dark, will be brought to the light.

However, the two arrived at the fast-food place and Jaune opened the door for her

"After you," Jaune said with a smile

"Why aren't you a charmer lad" Fiona replied with a giggle

The two walked in and were going to order food. Things were just begging between these two dorks.


	2. Date?

Jaune returned to his dorm after talking with Fiona. She was very interesting, to say the least, and very funny to, her jokes were much better than Yang's... don't tell anyone he thought that.

Anyway, Jaune had a pretty good time with Fiona, she had this amazing feeling just being around her, not to mention Jaune had found it pretty cute when her ears flapped, they always did when Jaune complimented her. Jaune found he could relate to her a lot, apparently, Fiona had 6 brothers, her being the middle child, Jaune had also told her about Saphron and his other 6 sisters. Both had a pretty good laugh at that.

Jaune entered his dorm only to find RWBY along with Oscar, Ren, and Nora. everyone giving him different looks. Yang was smugly smiling at him, Ruby was to but not the way Yang was, Weiss, smiling as well, though, hers was much softer, Blake was also smiling just like Yang. Nora looked like she was about to give Jaune a back crushing hug and Ren was holding her back but was also smiling at him as well, while oscar was just looking at him with a dorky smile.

"um... hey, what's up guys?" Jaune asked

"Well, is there something you wanna tell is fearless leader~?" Nora asked

"yeah Vomit-boy, anything you wanna tell us~?" Yang asked as well

"Um... did I do something, wrong guys? cause I know I was supposed to be back earlier for training but I just lost track of time and-"

"they're talking about your little date Jaune," Blake said still smiling

"Date? what Date?" Jaune asked

"you know, the date you had with that girl at the fast food place," Ruby said with stary eyes "why did you say that you were seeing someone?"

"Wait? you mean Fiona?" Jaune asked "wait! how did you guys know I was with Fiona?" Jaune asked

"Well, we were walking around, looking for a new place to eat and I and Ren saw you entering the store with... Fiona right? but we decided to leave you two be" Nora replied

"wait, Fiona? as in Fiona Thyme?" Blake asked

"Yeah, why?" Jaune asked

"You were on a date with Robyn's lieutenant!? HAHAHA" Yang laughed

"first of all Yang, it wasn't a date, and second of all, Fiona and I are just friends," Jaune told her

Nora winked, "sure, whatever you say Jaune-Jaune!"

Jaune looked to Ren, "Ren, come on, help me out here!" Jaune asked

"I must say Jaune that you two looked like a lovely couple!"

"TRAITOR!" Jaune cried "Oscar help me out, dude!"

"Sorry Jaune... I'm not really good with dating advice" Oscar said with a dorky smile

"NO! Not you too!" Jaune cried

But Jaune began to think about what he did with Fiona, was it a date?

* * *

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Fiona returned to the base. She had actually had a lot of fun today with Jaune, and he was an actually good guy, nice, sweet, awkward, and overall very caring. Fiona had felt happy within Jaune's presence, he had this aura around him that made you wanna follow him. Not to mention he was cute when Fiona wanted to tease him, he would blush, but then again, he also probably blushed when she flapped her ears, which to her were embarrassing, she didn't know why, but when Jaune complimented her, her face felt hot and her ears would flap. She sighed and hope she would see him tomorrow, well, it was his job to see that those kids were safe, and maybe she might just join him. She walked into the main part of The Happy Huntresses base, only to find May, Joanna, and Robyn looking at her, all with smiles.

"Oi, why are ya all lookin' at me like that?" Fiona asked

"Oh, is there something you wanna tell us, Fiona? Robyn asked with a smile

"What are you getting at Robyn?" Fiona asked, her eyes narrowing

"I mean, don't you wanna tell us about your little date with that handsome blonde huntsman~?" May said with a cheeky smile

Fiona blushed hard, "How!? When!? I-I-I!?"

"Ask May, she's the one who saw you" Joanna replied

Fiona looked to her partner, "How'd ya find me!?" Fiona asked

"Well I was out looking for you and then I saw you through that fast food restaurant so I used my semblance and went inside to watch you," May said "Oh, and you two are rather cute together"

Fiona breathed in, calming herself, but her blush was still very visible, "It wasn't even a date! Jaune and I are just friends!" Fiona cried

"Surrreee!" May said "I saw the look in your eyes! you like him!"

"We just met today May, there's no way I can fall for someone that fast!" Fiona told her friend

Easy Fi, were just messing with you" Robyn told her "Besides, are you sure it wasn't a date?"

Fiona was about to reply, but then she stopped herself to think, He asked her out to eat somewhere, ok, they talked about each other, ok there's that, finally, they exchanged scroll numbers and said that they hoped to see each other again.

"by the gods, it was a date!" Fiona cried with a mad blush!

* * *

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"is the plan ready for tomorrow?" Chuckled a voice

"yes, if all goes according to plan, that little rally will be the breaking point between Mantle and Atlas" Replied a very posh voice

"Ohohoho!" laughed the first voice, "this is gonna be so much fun!"

"Indeed it will be," said the second voice, with a smile

Arthur Watts and Tyrian Callows walked out of the shadows and right into the light, the two separatings, with Tyrian going to commit more murders and Watts left to do what he does best. Things were just looking up...

* * *

**Sorry if this chapter seemed short, but I still wanted to lay some groundwork before I decided to get into both the romance, action, and drama of the story, but I hoped you enjoyed**


	3. Interest

"All you all ready for today?" Robyn asked her friends

"Yep" May replied

"I'm suited up" Joanna replied, "what about you Fi?"

"Aye! I'm ready lass! don't get your knickers in a twist" Fiona said with a smile

"Alright, good" Robyn said "today's the Rally and we all need to be ready, apparently Ironwood is sending one of it Ace Ops to watch over the rally and make sure everything goes smooth"

"That so? an' here I thought the good ol' general didn't have a heart" Fiona replied with fake happiness

"I know how you all must feel about that and trust me, I don't trust Ironwood nor do I trust his little team" Robyn replied "but we have to deal with it for now"

Robyn then left the room, leaving the three other girls by themselves.

"hey Fi, when are you and that guy going on another date again?" May asked

Fiona rolled her eyes, "for the last time, we're not dating" Fiona replied

"whatever, but why not? I mean he looks like a good guy" May said

"Yeah, why not give him a chance," Joanna said "based on what May told us, I think he's a 1 in 100 kinda guy"

Fiona thought about it, Jaune was indeed a good guy not to mention he wasn't like most of the men here in Mantle, he had some class and was very sweet to her, not to mention he was raised by 7 sisters and she was sure that they would de-man him if he ever broke a girls heart, but then again, she was sure her brothers would do the same thing to him of he did something to her. Fiona had never met a guy like him before, he was always worried about others and not to mention when she looked in his eyes, she could see a strong will inside of them, she could see how determined he was to make the world a better place.

"Aye, your right" Fiona told them, "I think I'll give him a chance"

"atta girl!" May cheered "you can ask him out when you see him again, or just text him"

"Right," Fiona said, "but for now, let's get going, We should really get that place set up for the rally"

May and Joanna nodded and the three walked out from their base and headed to the warehouse where the rally was gonna take place.

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Today, Teams RWBY and ORNJ had a day off, and thankful most had plans. Yang and Blake were going to a local club, Weiss along with Oscar were gonna go to the movies, while Ruby, Penny, and Jaune were going to the Rally, and Ren and Nora were going on an actual date-date. Jaune, however, was very happy to be going to the rally, just to see if Fiona was going to be there. Ruby and Jaune got on a Bullhead that would take them to Mantle.

"Excited to see your girlfriend~?" Ruby asked

Jaune groaned but his smile never left his face, "Ruby, she's not my girlfriend" Jaune replied

"wait? Jaune has a date?" Penny asked

"Oh, I didn't tell you?" Ruby said "Jaune went on a date with Robyn's Lieutenant"

"Well good for you Jaune!" Penny said with excitement

Jaune groaned, "I swear, one day I will have my revenge" Jaune told her

Ruby giggled, "whatever you say"

After the short Bullhead ride, they got off and Jaune ran as fast as he could to the nearest trashcan as he felt as if he was gonna throw up, however, by the time he reached it, the sensation of puking his guts had vanished

Jaune took a deep breath, "I-I think I'm starting to get the hang of it" Jaune told himself

"You ok over there vomit-boy?" Ruby asked

"Peachy" Jaune replied

Jaune moved away from the trash can and walked back over to them and they walked to where the rally was being held. Jaune noticed that the mood of Mantle had worsened, Jaune couldn't help but feel bad for these people, and then he remembered Fiona's words

_"I realized that everyone up there, in Atlas, they don't give flying fuck about the people down here"_

Jaune could now see what she meant. If Atlas really did care what happened down here then it would be just as good here as it was up there, everyone had it good up there, yet, no one was willing to see the problems here in Mantle, both Human and Faunas had it hard down here, not to mention with the SDC closing until that bastard Jaques won, people didn't have jobs and there was no way to earn money down here, not to mention Jaune had seen how some of the soldiers down here treated the people. Hell, even some of the women around here sold their bodies for money, he was even sure that one of the kid's mom's was working that way, he couldn't blame her either. She was just doing what she needed to do for her kids.

"Jaune? you ok?" Ruby asked

Jaune turned to her, "I'm fine Ruby" Jaune replied

"Really? you looked like you were thinking pretty deep" Ruby told him

"yes, my scanners indicate that your facial expressions were indeed showing that you were having some internal conflict" Penny replied "sorry, old habits"

Jaune just gave a soft smile, "I'm fine, I promise" Jaune said

They continued to walk and Jaune's thoughts went to a certain sheep faunas. He remembered how much his friends were bugging him about how it was a date and he knew it was a date-date, but yeah, he understood that it was possible, maybe, a date. Jaune had no problems with dating Fiona. he thought about it and a smile crept its way on his face, there was a lot to like about her, she was indeed kind, funny, beautiful, and he related to her a lot and understood what she stood for here in Mantle, She was an amazing person and maybe, just maybe, he could ask her on a date?

Finally, they arrived at the rally and a lot of people were already here. Jaune looked around to see that it was just a standard warehouse pretty much, Ruby looked on stage to see Marrow.

"Hey, marrows here!" Ruby told them

Penny and Jaune looked to see that it was indeed true, Marrow was on stage. They walked over to him.

"Hey, Marrow!" Jaune called out

Marrow turned to see them, "Jaune! Ruby! Hey guys!" Marrow said

"What are you doing here man?" Jaune asked

"I got orders from Clover as well as the general to be here to make sure the Rally goes as planned," Marrow said

"Cool!" Ruby said, "wait, where are the others?"

"Their off doing another mission" Marrow replied

the three nodded and then a high pitched squeal came from their right, the four looked to see both May Marigold and Fiona Thyme. Ruby looked Fiona and then back at Jaune, her eyes becoming wide.

"Look Jaune/Fi it's your boyfriend/girlfriend!" Both Ruby and May said

"We are not dating!" Both Jaune and Fiona cried as blushed crept on their faces

both stopped and turned to each other

"Hey Fiona" Jaune said with a smile

"'Ello Jaune" Fiona replied

"We'll just leave you two alone," May told her

Everyone nodded but Marrow stayed where he was while Penny and Ruby walked off somewhere with May, thus leaving the two alone. Jaune and Fiona smiled at one another while they walked off, Fiona was supposed to open for Robyn, but the rally didn't start for another 30 minutes, allowing the two to catch up.

"So how are ya?" Fiona asked

"I'm doing fine, you?" Jaune asked

"I'm alright" Fiona replied

"Good," Jaune said

"yeah," Fiona said

there was no talking for a while, both trying to come up with something to carry on the conversation.

"So I-"

"I was wondering-"

Both said at the same time, they stopped and looked at the other before chuckling

"You first," Fiona told him

"No, please, you first," Jaune told her

Fiona smiled, "always the charmer eh? well, I was wondering if, ya know, after the rally, you and I could maybe... do something?" Fiona asked with a blush

Jaune's heart almost stopped out of surprise, "A-As in l-like a date?" Jaune asked

Fiona nodded and her ears flapped, which once again, Jaune thought was cute.

Jaune sighed in relief, "yeah! d-definitely!" Jaune replied

"R-Really!?" Fiona asked

"of course!" Jaune said, "wow, I-I was gonna ask you the same thing!" Jaune told her

"That so!?" Fiona asked with a smile "w-wow! that takes a lot of me chest"

"Good" Jaune told her "so, do you have any place in mind?" Jaune asked

Fiona began to think, "there's this amazin' Vacovian food restaurant just down the street from 'ere and I know you'll love it," Fiona told him

"Vacovian huh? Sounds good!" Jaune told her

Fiona nodded before her scroll buzzed and saw that the rally was about to start.

"I-I gotta go, the rally's 'bout to start and I gotta open for Robyn," Fiona told him "see you after the Rally"

Jaune waved her goodbye and went to see the rally, the lights dimmed and the first person to appear on stage was of course Fiona. She was about to speak but then the mic screeched and everyone covered their ears as did Jaune, She looked embarrassed but she looked to the crowd to see Jaune giving her a dorky smile and she resumed her speech

"Haha, well, that worked" Fiona chuckled "I know that, like me, that all you lads and lassies are thrilled that we chose Robyn as our voice in Atlas!"

the crowd cheered

"No one has fought harder for Mantle than she... and I know that Robyn will continue that fight on the bloody council!" Fiona cheered "She will do what none of those tools in Atlas can! She'll give them a good ol' kick in the arse!"

The crowd cheered again with a bit of laughter too. Jaune smiled and he could see that Fiona was indeed having a great time as well.

"Well now! let's introduce the lady of the hour!" Fiona replied

Robyn then got on stage and Fiona handed her the mic, Robyn was beginning her speech and Jaune was listening, she was a pretty good talk, but Jaune wanted to know if she could keep those promises that she made to the people of Mantle. Jaune was sure both Ironwood and Jaques would say whatever they needed to say to get voted, but the problem with that was that most people knew how both men acted.

Jaques was a cruel man and only cared for power and money, anything to expand his empire of cruelty.

While Ironwood was a whole different story, Ironwood was a man of action, however, that was also his problem, he liked to take to much action and never listen, once his mind was made up, he would go through with it, not to mention that he abused his power a little, not too much but a little.

This was Politics, however, Jaune knew better than that, the fight between Salem wasn't a game with politics, it was a game of chess. Salem didn't care how she made the kingdoms fall, all she cared was if it worked and how it could work in her favor. This was why it never worked in Ozpin's favor, for one, he never took action which made his moves more mysterious, but again, he never took action back in vale and look where that got them, however, Ironwood was to much action, moving his pieces in plain sight it was so easy to tell what he was planning. Salem was just the right amount of Action and Inaction, she could be in the shadows while at the same time be in the daylight.

He was interrupted from his thoughts when he saw something that he didn't expect to see, he saw a metal scorpion tail wag in the distance. Jaune's feet moved as fast as they could, he walked to the where he saw the tail and just as the Polls were about to be held, Jaune could hear laughter, very familiar Laughter

"The shows about to start~!" Came the voice Jaune would never forget

Jaune's fear had come true, standing right in front of him was none other then Tyrian Callows.

Suddenly, all the lights went off.

and all hell broke loose...


	4. Later Date

**A/N: I Like Tyrian, he just gives off the joker vibe ya know, Not to mention he's very proficient in combat, I also think he's one of the strongest characters in the show. Not to mention, He's not like the other Villains in RWBY. Tyrian adapts when fighting and he plays with people's emotions when fighting. Not to mention he isn't like the rest of Team WTCH because from what I've Seen Watts, Cinder, and Hazel are all after revenge lately. Cinder want's Ruby dead, Hazel wants Ozpin dead, and Watts wants to get back at Ironwood, however, Tyrian isn't like them.**

**He never wanted Revenge against Ruby for cutting off his tail, and he has no personal vendetta against Ozpin's Faction or Team RWBY and ORNJ. Unlike the rest of his group**

**He doesn't even care about his and Qrows hatred for each other, as he uses Qrow's hatred for him to convince him that for them to finish their "unsettled score" they need Clover out of the way, he didn't do much against clover and let Qrow be the one to break Clovers Aura, allowing him to Kill Clover with Qrow's weapon and frame him for his death.**

**I still think that If Tyrian kills one of the main characters, it is going to be Qrow.**

**However, I still don't like that RT hasn't given us some sort of answer as to why he's interested in Jaune, and he never shows this again or mentions his interest to anyone else, instead, RT just focuses on his and Qrow's Rivalry, which I understand, but I would Like to see Jaune run into Tyrian again, even if for a brief moment or an actual conversation between the two.**

**if this doesn't happen, then I would at least like to see both Qrow and Jaune fight Tyrian.**

**I really hope we get some of that in V8 but I also want more**

* * *

.

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Tyrian took out his blades and began slashing around him, killing as many as he could. Jaune quickly sprung into action and tried to find Tyrian among the darkness, it wasn't hard as he knew where Tyrian was going. Thankfully, all that time out in Mistral had also sharpened his senses, he could see in the dim-lit room and saw the stage. Jaune quickly ran to the stage, knowing that Tyrian was killing more people for some reason, However, by the time he got there Tyrian jumped onto the scene as Fiona and Robyn were going to retreat

"Huntresses! to me!" Robyn called out

Fiona looked around and saw the attacker coming straight for them but then he jumped out of sight.

"We need to get you out of here lass!" Fiona cried as she turned to Robyn

Jaune ran to them to help them, and Fiona saw him as well, however, Tyrian now landed right on the stage and was right behind Fiona.

"Fiona! Watch out!" Jaune cried

Fiona turned as quickly as he could, but Tyrian was faster as he used his aura on his right hand and tore through her aura, causing it to only break where he cut, but he quickly used his left and to slash her deep. She fell as she felt the pain rush to her body.

"NO!" Jaune cried

Tyrian didn't hesitate as he quickly lunged for Robyn, be used his tail to go for a killing blow, but the end was met with resistance as it hit a shield. Tyrian quickly bounce back due to surprise but saw who had interrupted his shot. Tyrian's eyes met with a very familiar sight that almost made him jump for joy like a child. Standing against the assassin was none other than that blond knight. Jaune quickly moved his shield away as he stared at Tyrian as well.

"Well, if it isn't the humble knight! Come to rescue the damsel in distress!" Tyrian chuckled as he saw Jaune

"What are you doing here Tyrian?" Jaune asked

"I've come to break the troubled hearts of the poor people in Mantle!" Tyrian replied with a smile

"Your after the Relics aren't you?" Jaune asked

"Why of course! why else would we be here!" Tyrian replied, "And this time, you and your little crew of do-gooders can't do anything to stop it!"

"We'll see about that" Jaune told him

"Yes... we will," Tyrian said as he jumped away and left

Penny Landed on the stage just as Tyrian left and she looked ready to fight the attacker, but she saw him nowhere in sight. The lights came back on and Jaune rushed to Fiona. He then put his Aura into his hands and began to push it into hers, slowly healing the wound.

"Guess we're gonna have ta' hold off out date tonight," Fiona said as she looked at Jaune

Jaune softly smiled, "guess so" Jaune replied

However, before more could be done, someone yelled something that Jaune wasn't paying attention to and then Jaune caught a glimpse of Penny leaving, along with Marrow being pulled away by Ruby. Jaune was done healing and was about to back away, but he was knocked out by the but of Robyn's Crossbow.

* * *

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Jaune woke up in a chair, his hands and legs tied to the chair, his armor was gone along with his shield and sword. Jaune remembered Tyrian's attack and he remembered trying to heal Fiona, but after that, it went all black. Jaune looked around and saw that he was in a room with pretty much nothing in it before he could get a better look at his surroundings, he suddenly felt something cold and hard press into the back of his head. Jaune's survival instincts were kicking into high gear as he knew it was the barrel of a dust pistol at the back of his neck.

"Easy now, there's no need to use violence," Jaune told whoever it was

"Quite!" Yelled the voice "I wanna know what Ironwoods Up to! Why did he have his robot attack us!?" cried the voice again

"Ironwood didn't attack you... it was someone else," Jaunr told them

"Who?" Asked the voice

"His Name is Tyrian Callows, he's a scorpion Faunas, but now thanks to a friend of mine he's got a metal tail now" Jaune replied

Jaune felt the dust pistol move away from the back of his head, the person then walked to the front of him and it was none other than Robyn Hill. She had an Atlas military-grade dust pistol, she holstered the gun and looked Jaune dead in the eye, she pulled out a hunting knife and undid one of Jaune's hands and grabbed it as she then put it into her own hand, her hand glowed a light a pale lilac as well as Jaune's.

"Did Ironwood order you to attack us?" Robyn asked

"No" Jaune replied

Their hands then glowed green, Robyn looked surprised, their hands then returned to the pale lilac color as Robyn asked more questions.

"Are you sure it was this Tyrian callow that attacked us?" Robyn asked

"Yes" Jaune replied

Their hands then became green again before once again returning to pale lilac

"Does he Work for Ironwood?" Robyn asked

"No he doesn't" Jaune replied

Green once again and then back to Pale Lilac

"Who does he work for?" Robyn asked

"You wouldn't believe me If I told you" Jaune replied

Their arms turned green and then Robyn let go of his hand before looking him up and down. Jaune had figured out her semblance pretty quick since she used it to her full extent. She still stared at Jaune but then she smiled.

"Fi was right, you are one in a million," Robyn said

Jaune smiled but then he remembered he wasn't completely done healing Fiona, "wait! Fiona is she ok!?" Jaune asked

Robyn smiled more and nodded, "yes, thanks to you. She'll have a scar though" Robyn told him

She cut the rest of his restraints and allowed him to get up. Jaune rubbed his other hand and the looked to Robyn. She knew what he was going to say so she gestured him to follow her and she walked out of the room with Jaune behind her.

"Your Armor and Weapon are in the main part of our base" Robyn replied "Fiona is there waiting for you as well"

"Good," Jaune said

"your lucky, if Fiona hadn't convinced me to ask you what happened I would've killed you on the spot," Robyn told Jaune

Jaune chuckled nervously, "Well I'm glad your the woman she talked so highly about" Jaune replied

"She talks about me? what does she say?" Robyn asked with a smirk

"Well... She really does believe that you'll change both Mantle and Atlas for the better, she also believes that your a reasonable woman" Jaune told her "She'll also believe you'll win"

"Well she's right about one thing, I am a reasonable woman" Robyn replied "But I lost"

Jaune was stunned, however, not so much, if Tyrian was here then Salem and her group were planning something, and Tyrian no doubt played a role in Robyn's loss for councilwoman, the question now was who won?

"then who won?" Jaune asked

"That bastard Jaques" Robyn sneered

Jaune didn't believe it, but it made sense, however, the lights did go out before the results were tallied. not to mention lights, as well as power, don't just go off for a certain amount of time in a building hosting a rally for the seat on the council, Jaune knew better then calling it a power outage, no someone hacked the builds tech and cut off the Electricity, the question was if it was Cinder or someone else in Salem's faction. Jaune knew it couldn't be Cinder as she liked to play coy and only show herself in the end and gloat. This wasn't Cinder's MO, however, for someone to hack into Atlas's database means they would've left a trace right? People that could access that without being noticed would only be higher-ups, like Ironwood, Atlas's top scientist, and the person on the council which still happened to be Ironwood for now, until Jaques's inauguration. This left only a few people and Jaune needed to do some investigating himself once he had the time, however, he also needed people he could trust with this information, and right now, Robyn was the best bet as well as her huntresses. Jaune also needed to get in contact with Ruby to tell her this information too, however, he didn't want this to get to the General yet, just to make sure that his place wasn't bugged or hacked, but he still wanted to make sure, which left Atlas's top scientists, and Jaune only knew one personally.

Jaune stopped thinking for a moment as soon as he felt a sudden grip around his being, he looked to see none other than Fiona herself, however, She quickly let go of him as a blush appeared on her face and her ears flapped again, which of course brought Jaune's face to blush as well.

"H-Hey Jaune! Good to see ya again!" She said awkwardly

"Y-Yeah!" Jaune replied "It's g-good to see you as well"

Joanna looked to May and handed her five Lien.

"Told you she was gonna jump and hug him as soon as he walked in," May said with a smirk

Joanna glared at May and then flipped her the bird, May just continued to be smug. Robyn also looked at the scene before her and smiled softly, however, she still needed to know what Ironwood was up to and she had a feeling that the Boy was willing to cooperate. She needed to know what was going on in Mantle

She needed to know what was going on in her home.

* * *

.

.

.

Tyrian returned to the little base camp that he and Watts had made for themselves. Watts was already there and he looked at Tyrian and saw that the assassin had a mad smile grace his face, while that wasn't uncommon, Watts was actually intrigued this time why he was smiling

"Had fun Tyrian?" Watts asked

Tyrian chuckled, "Ohoh! Like you wouldn't believe it! Things are going to get very interesting around here!"

"Indeed they are my friend" Watts replied, "however, I noticed you were talking with someone on the stage, who was that?"

"A Knight in Shinning armor" Tyrian chuckled

"Let me guess, this boy caught your eye?" Watts said with a smile

"Indeed, more then Branwen did" Tyrian replied

At this, hearing the words that Tyrian spoke made him wonder what made that blonde huntsman so special that he interested Tyrian more the Qrow Branwen did. However, this wasn't the first time he had seen the boy. If he remembered correctly, the blonde boy was Miss Nikos's partner. Tyrian turned back to the screen and began to work his magic, however, he then looked at the boy again. Tyrian was no doubt crazy, but he was still someone who you didn't want cross paths with, not to mention Tyrian himself was smart in a way that he could never be in. Now, Watts himself was Interested in the boy.

"Very interesting..." Watts said to himself


	5. Truth

Ruby along with Ren and Nora left Atlas Academy and went looking for Jaune, due to leaving him there. Once word got back to Ironwood that the rally was attacked and that Jaune was possibly captured, Ironwood gave orders that Robyn and her Huntresses were to be arrested, however, not one of ORN or RWBY liked that, so they all split up to look for Robyn and hopefully get Jaune back, they also wanted to check in on Professor Polindina to make sure he, Penny, and Maria were ok.

"You think he's ok?" Ruby asked

"I hope so, I don't think Robyn would kill a huntsman" Ren replied

"I don't know, with everything going on, she just might," Nora said

Ruby groaned, "this is all my fault!" Ruby said "I should've grabbed him when we had the chance"

"Look, it was a situation that we needed to get out of quick, not to mention it was his fault that he stayed behind," Ren said

"he didn't do anything wrong he made sure that the girl on stage was safe, he did something neither of us did," Nora said with a glare at Ren

things between the two were now getting somewhat worse, not to mention this whole situation was testing everyone's relationships. Yang was questioning Ruby about how she was handling everything that was going on, Ren and Nora were also not seeing eye to eye with the situation too, and even some small tension was building up between Weiss and Winter. However, Ruby was going to do what she did best and that was fighting through her feelings and trying to lead her friends against Salem.

"Let's see if we can find them where Robyn's most active," Ruby told them "I'm sure we can find them and see if we can get Jaune back.

The two agreed and followed Ruby to where Robyn was mostly active in robbing Atlas Supply trucks.

* * *

.

.

.

While Ruby, Nora, and Ren were looking for Robyn, she was currently with Jaune and Fiona heading to Professors Polindinas lab. Jaune had told them about Salem and the threat she had on the world, which he also told her was the reason they needed the amity arena, so they could spread the word of Salem. After their many questions, which Jaune tried to answer best, he had somewhat convinced them about Salem, however, Jaune still wanted to make sure that his assumption was right, he knew someone had to hack into Atlas's network, but he knew that currently, the only ones he would think of were Atlas's top scientist, he was the only Atlas Scientist that Jaune knew and he trusted Polindina very much.

He entered the lab only to find Maria tinkering with a gadget, she heard them enter and looked at Jaune

"Well, Hello again Jaune," Maria said

"Hey, Maria, hows retirement?" Jaune asked with a smile

"Very well actually, but I guess I do miss going on crime sprees with you again," Maria told him with a chuckle

Both Robyn and Fiona looked to Jaune with a confused look before looking at Mara

"Jaune, who are these two?" Maria asked

"oh right," Jaune said "Maria I'm sure you know Robyn Hill," Jaune said gesturing to Robyn

"A pleasure to meet you," Robyn told her

"Likewise Ms. Hill, big fan of your work," Maria told her

"And this is Fiona Thyme" Jaune gesturing to Fiona

"'Ello" Fiona greeted

Maria looked at her and smiled, "hello Fiona" Maria greeted

"Now that introductions are out of the way, is Professor Polindina here?" Jaune asked

"yes, he's upstairs looking at the footage," Maria said "damn people, framing her like that" Maria cried out

Jaune nodded, "well I'll go see him"

"I'm sure he'll be happy, but if you wouldn't mind leaving these to here to chat, It does get lonely here," Maria said with a smile

Jaune eyes her, he was getting the same feeling off of Maria, like he did when his mother or sisters were going to embarrass him, however, that can feeling of embarrassment could wait. Jaune headed upstairs and hoped that Maria didn't tell them about how they got to Atlas.

Jaune reached the second floor and saw that the Professor was indeed looking at the footage of the incident and he was looking at it, hoping to catch every detail. Jaune knocked on the doorframe and the doctor quickly turned his head in Jaune's direction

"Ah! Mr. Arc!" Pietro said "what can I do for you?" he asked

"It's about the events that happened last night" Jaune replied "I have an Idea that I wanna make sure of"

"What is it?" Pietro asked

"The building that was attacked last night had the power cut off, all of its power, yet the rest of the street had its power on. I know for a fact that for someone to do this, they have to be Atlas's top scientists, The General of Atlas's army, and the councilor of Atlas" aune told him "I've already ruled out Ironwood, and there's no way Jaques Schnee had that type of clearance, however, this also brought me back to one group"

The gears in Pietro's head began to turn as he was coming to the same conclusion, "you think an Atlas Scientist did this?" he asked

"I'm sure of it" Jaune replied, "do you keep in contact with any of them?" Jaune asked

"Somewhat" Pietro replied "however two of them went missing a long time ago" Pietro replied

"Could you still show them to me" Jaune replied "It's possible that they may be working for the same people who framed Penny"

"Sure" Pietro replied

Pietro went to his desk and the to his computer, he then accessed Atlas's network then accessed the files on the other four Atlas Scientist that he worked with, each one opened and he then turned to Jaune and moved away from his computer

"here you go," Pietro told him "those are the other scientist that I worked alongside with, each has been updated since a year ago but some of the information is still pretty the same as it was years ago"

"Thanks, Professor" Jaune replied

Jaune sat at the desk and looked at the first file, which was about an Atlas Scientist named Docter Gerat Grey. He was a black man with grey hair, he seemed happy in most photos. Jaune looked at his current whereabouts and found that he was living in Vacuo with his family. Jaune knew that it couldn't be grey both due to the distance the matter of family, he was sure that Salem didn't want people who had families to work for her as that might cause complications.

The Next file belonged to Professor Richard Brown, he was a white man with brown hair. Jaune looked at his information and found that he had passed away a few years back, so he was already not an option, however, he'd keep it in mind.

The next one was a female scientist by the name of professor Ella Fall. Jaune had to do a double-take as he thought he had seen Cinder herself, the woman almost looked just like her, but the difference between the two was her smile was soft and kind, while Cinder's cunning and smug, Jaune sent the file to his scroll in case there were indeed related, he didn't want to take a chance on knowing more about her. However, he had found out that she was missing and she was last seen in Eastern Vale. Jaune kept her in mind for the hacking but he didn't feel like it was her.

The next was someone who Jaune took an interest in once the face and the name was brought up. Dr. Arthur Watts. Jaune had sworn he had heard of him before but he couldn't think where, then when he looked at his whereabouts, Jaune saw that he was pronounced missing before the fall of Beacon, in fact, he went missing just a few weeks after the first few weeks of that year began. Jaune looked at the man and indeed, he seemed formal and proper, however, Jaune could see the fire of ambition behind them. Jaune looked more into his information than the others and found out that most of his projects had been rejected by none other than James Ironwood. Jaune instantly knew that this was the guy, despite what the others might think, Arthur Watts was the guy.

Jaune sent Watts file to his scroll and he thanked Pietro and left, telling him that he had found the guy and that they were gonna bring him to justice.

* * *

.

.

.

"Are ya for real!?" Fiona cried

"Yes" Maria replied "All his idea to get here"

"I never thought he had it in him! I mean the lad completely looks like a golden boy!" Fiona said with a chuckle

"I got that feeling too," Robyn said with a smirk "but then again, never judge a book by its cover"

"Yes, Jaune does give off that impression, but trust me, if I was a few years younger, the things I would do to him, I-"

"Oi! Back off Bubby! I already got him" Fiona told him

"Really?" Maria looked at her with a smile and a questioning look

Fiona nodded

"Huh, and here I thought he would date Ruby or her sister at least," Maria said

Fiona was a bit confused about why Maria had thought that but she shrugged it off. Finally, Jaune came downstairs he looked at them with a smile, he looked over to both of them and nodded,

"Well we'd better be off now, it was nice meetin ya Bubby," Fiona told Maria

"Likewise dear" Maria replied

The three left and began heading back to the base, Jaune pulled out his scroll and opened it up and tapped on Ruby's contact. It rang for a few minutes before finally, the call went through

"Ruby? Are you there?" Jaune asked

**[Oh my gosh! Jaune where are you!? are you alright!? your not hurt are you!? what did they do to you!?]** Ruby asked

"I'm fine Ruby" Jaune replied with a smirk "Look I need you to meet me at Robyn's base, can you do that?"

**[wait, why there?]** Ruby asked **[what's going on Jaune?]**

"I'll tell you when you get there, for now, call the others and tell them to meet me there too, and whatever you do, don't tell Ironwood or anyone at Atlas where we are going, got it?" Jaune asked

**[alright]** Ruby replied **[but this better be important]**

"it is" Jaune replied

**[alright, see you and Robyn's]** Ruby said

"see you there" Jaune replied

He hung up the phone he continued to walk with Fiona and Robyn back to their base. While they did so, Robyn walked a bit ahead of them, leaving the two to talk. Fiona looked at Jaune and noticed that he looked like he won the Vytal Festival, he looked like the happiest he's ever been, and she kinda understood why, Jaune had told them about the Grimm Queen and how she couldn't be killed, but that didn't mean she could be stopped. Fiona understood why he seemed like he had finally caught a break, because of everything he's been through, he finally found some hope.

She'll admit, She was skeptical of Jaune when he had his friends were at the rally, and she was even more skeptical on how they knew one of the Ace Ops, which made her worry that Robyn was right, Ironwood was trying to get rid of his competition and the rally was gonna be an ambush. She almost felt scared when the lights went off and then she heard the screaming of people, she was afraid that Ironwood had made his move and was going to kill them all. When she saw Jaune appear on stage with his weapon out, her heart sank, she thought she had actually found the right guy only for him to kill her and her boss, but she was wrong. Jaune was there to protect her and Robyn from that Tyrian guy, it also eased her mind when he helped heal her instead of running off with his friends when they were accused of attacking them. Fiona was still skeptical when he was knocked out, but she wanted to believe that Jaune wasn't who she began suspecting he would be, which is why she asked Robyn to use her semblance on him, and when she saw both Robyn and Jaune come back from her questioning, she knew that he was indeed a good person, and that made her happy, which of course lead her running and hugging him.

"Fiona? you ok?"

Fiona was pushed out of her thoughts when she heard his voice, she turned to see Jaune looking at her with a bit of worry on his face. She smiled at him and nodded

"Yeah, I'm fine" She replied

She then took his hand in hers and Jaune almost seemed surprised at what she was doing, but she smiled as they continued to walk as they held hands

"Everything fine," She told him once again.


	6. At Odds

Robyn, Fiona, and Jaune had made it back to their base and once they arrived, Joanna and May were sitting in the living room.

"Any Luck?" Joanna asked

"Aye, Jaune thinks he's got a lead" Fiona replied "We're just waitin' his pals to show up," Fiona said pointing her finger at Jaune

May looked confused, "why are they coming here?" She asked

"I called them here because I couldn't talk to them while In Atlas, As soon as I go back Ironwood would ask me questions and since I've been gone long enough he'll suspect me of telling you all about Salem" Jaune said "So I called them here to tell them the plan"

Once Jaune finished, there was a knock at the door.

"Speak of the Devil and he shall come," Fiona said with a chuckle

Jaune smiled and went to open the door, there standing was all of team RWBY and the rest his team.

"Jaune!" Nora cried as she hugged him

Jaune hugged back, "Hey Nora"

"It's good to see your ok" Ren replied

Ruby, Yang, and Blake nodded in agreement. Jaune smiled at them and then allowed them inside, each taking a seat where there was one, Jaune then looked around before closing the door.

"You weren't followed right?" Jaune asked

"No I made sure," Blake said, her ears wiggling

"Good" Jaune replied

"So what is this about and why here?" Weiss asked

Robyn glared at Weiss but said nothing. Jaune could feel her glare and would understand why, Weiss didn't agree with most things Atlas did, but she also didn't like how Robyn was doing things around Mantle as well.

Jaune just sighed, "They know," Jaune said

RWBY and ORN looked at June with shock expressions

"You told them!?" Weiss cried

"Look, I know you don't agree with me telling them-"

"Your damn right I don't agree!" Weiss said, "What the hell are you thinking Jaune!?"

"I was thinking this was the best outcome!" Jaune cried back

Weiss recoiled when he raised his voice at her, as did everyone else, not once had Jaune ever raised his voice at his friends in such a manner.

Jaune looked at them all, "Listen to me, Tyrian was there last night" Jaune told them

Ruby, Nora, and Ren looked at him with wide eyes.

"Are you sure!?" Nora asked

"Yeah, talked to me for a bit before Penny jumped on stage" Jaune said

"What did he say? why was he here?" Ruby asked

"Why do you think?" Jaune asked

The four who knew who Tyrian was and who he worked for was was clear and why he was here was even clearer. He was after the Relic.

"Who are you guys talking about?" Blake asked

"Tyrian Callows" Ren told her "He's a scorpion Faunus that came after the four of us when we were heading to Mistral, he wanted to take ruby and when we didn't let me he fought us, he was good, we couldn't even get a hit on him"

"If it wasn't for Qrow stepping in, we would've died," Nora said

"How dangerous is he?" Oscar asked

"You remember how strong I am with my semblance?" Nora asked

Oscar shuddered, "how could I forget?"

"He stopped me while I was energized," Nora said "with his tail"

For those who knew of Nora's strength, knowing that stopping her attacks when her Semblance is in use knew it was no easy feat. Nora was the 3rd strongest 1st year-fight back in Beacon, she even managed to knock out Yang and stun Pyrrha with her attacks, Hell, even professor Port had difficulty stoping Nora's attacks, he had even said that he hadn't been that tuckered out since the fight he had with an Elder Ursa Major when Vale was Breached, which they all saw, and knew never to doubt Port's stories, which is why he had named Nora his Favorite student.

"And he's not here alone either," Jaune said

"How do you know?" Yang asked

"The rally's building had its power cut off, but I noticed that all the lights outside weren't and while a building losing its power isn't uncommon, do you really believe that the rally's power just so happened to go out as soon as Tyrian went on a rampage?" Jaune asked

"So it was planned," Yang said, "but how do you know this Tyrian guy didn't cause it?"

"Because I don't think he's that good" Jaune said "which means he had help, and once u suspected that, I knew there was only a few people who could shut off the power of a building with the flick of a switch"

"Those with Atlas Special code to its database" Weiss said

Jaune nodded

"Which means it was an Inside Job," Weiss said "But the question is who, not just anyone has that kind of a clearance"

"Yeah I know, which is why I went and asked Pietro for information" Jaune replied, "I asked him if I could see the files on the Atlas's top five scientists"

"What makes you think it was one of them?" Ruby asked

"Because the only other people to have that access are the councilor and general of Atlas, which is still Ironwood for the moment," Weiss told Ruby

"Yeah and I think I found who might've done it," Jaune said as he opened up his scroll and pressed on Arthur's file and sent it to everyone else.

"His Name it Arthur Watts, I looked at his current status and I noticed he's been missing before the fall of Beacon, in fact, he went missing just a few weeks after the first few weeks of our first year began," Jaunr told them "I also looked more into it and it turned out that most of his projects had been rejected by Ironwood, In fact, there was a fall out between them and I mean a huge one before Watts was pronounced missing"

"Jaune's right" Blake agreed "It's too convenient, not to mention this guy might have a grudge with Ironwood"

"Alright, so we know who's behind the attack and who framed Penny," Ruby said "let's get back to Atlas and Tell General Ironwood about this"

"No," Jaune said

Ruby looked to her fellow leader, as did everyone else. Some looked confused while Some, like Yang, already knew why Jaune didn't want to let this go to Ironwood.

"What? why?" Ruby asked

"Look, we'll tell him when the time is right and when we know where we can find them," Jaune said

"But why can't we tell him to know!? If we do, We'll have the whole Kingdom on our back" Ruby said

"That's the problem" Yang spoke up "Ironwood is rash, we won't listen to us if he thinks he can stop this right here and now, but if we try and stop it now, without any information about where we can find these two, they'll go into hiding and they might even have enough time to work up a new plan"

"No, we need to go to him now" Weiss butted in "look we've already betrayed Ironwoods trust with telling them"

"We've been betraying his trust since the moment we've arrived," Oscar said

Everyone turned to him, Oscar looked the liked the most guilty person here. Oscar sighed and took a deep breath, Having Ozpin's entire life memories stuck in your head was both a blessing and a curse. He knew how long Ozpin had been fighting and what he did, Ozpin was almost never a man of action, he waited. Ozpin was smart, and at times he would take action, but he was mostly scared. Scared that what he might do was the wrong call. Scared for so many reasons, but Oscar knew one major one, one reason why Ozpin was so scared to fight. But he also knew that maybe doing the opposite of Ozpin might work to take action, but Oscar can see that Ironwood was truly a man of to much action. Both ways wouldn't work, too much inaction and it crushed you, to much action and you'd be crushing yourself and your enemy at the same time.

"Listen to me... I know that Ozpin has done almost nothing to actually stop Salem, and I know from Oz's memories of James, that he would want to end this to quick, not taking into account the consequences" Oscar began "And while there are many reasons why one of them is because they weren't on the same level as Salem"

"What do you mean?" Ruby asked

"Maybe Jaune's right... About not telling Ironwood" Oscar replied

"You can't be serious?" Blake said "we keep secrets from him we're no better then Ozpin"

"We already are as bad as him," Yang told her partner "we all know why"

Robyn could sense the tension was rising between everyone, she had to both disagree and agree with Jaune and with his friends who wanted to tell Ironwood. She agreed that it was a good idea not to tell Ironwood just yet, but if he found out himself somehow then there would be repercussions with all of them ending in big trouble.

"How about this" Robyn spoke up "Jaune will stay with us and we'll keep looking for those two, while you guys try and keep Ironwood off out tails, and once we know where they are then, we'll tell Ironwood" Robyn finished

Jaune, Yang, Oscar, and Nora agreed with it, while Blake and Ren reluctantly agreed, but Weiss and Ruby didn't like it. The two of them were still thought it was better to go straight to Ironwood.

"Look, I know you don't like it, but if we can't find them in a week, you can tell Ironwood," Robyn said, "sound fair?" She asked

Weiss nodded, she would allow them time as it was fair. But Ruby still didn't agree, she wanted everyone to work together, and this might strain the bonds they've made with Ironwood. However, she knew it was a fair deal and reluctantly shook her head in agreement.

"Good, not get back to Atlas, tell Ironwood you still couldn't find Jaune but tell him he wasn't with us, come up with something so Ironwood doesn't think were holding your friend hostage and puts an arrest out for us," Robyn told them

They agreed and Jaune went with them as they were slowly leaving, Yang turning back to him before following the others

"Jaune, Do you really think this is a good idea? I'm asking because I know I'm in, but are you sure your fine with it?" She asked

"We need to play their game Yang" Jaune replied "If we tell Ironwood, Things could get messy, sure it might work out but we don't know their entire plan"

Yang nodded, "good, And I'll make sure none of us let the word out," Yang said

Jaune nodded as yang turned around and left. Jaune told his friends he would see them later and they did the same. Jaune then went back inside and let out a sigh before sitting on the couch.

"You ok their kid?" Joanna asked

Jaune nodded, "I'm fine" Jaune responded, he then looked around and noticed that the other three Huntresses were gone, he knew May had left earlier but didn't know where to. "where did everyone else go?"

"May went out to get some fast-food, while Robyn went to go look over some papers as well as see some requests from some civilians to see what we could do for them, and Fi's up on the roof" Joanna responded.

Jaune nodded, "Well, I'm gonna see what she's doing all by herself," Jaune said as he got up and headed upstairs

Joanna nodded with a smile, "go get her tiger" She said with a chuckle.

* * *

.

.

.

Fiona looked over to hills and saw the light behind the Mountains and she could see three or two stars already in the sky. The Sky itself was a mix of that orange and purple mixture she loved so much as a child. It was times like this where she remembered living back in Vale in her village and more importantly, how her father would sing to her before bed around this time.

 ** _"~Sing me a song of a lass that is gone Say, could that lass be I? Merry of soul she sailed on a day Over the sea to Skye~"_** Fiona began to sing

She loved over the snowy land and how beautiful it still was despite its harsh coldness.

 ** _"~Mull was astem, Rum on the port, Eigg on the starboard bow~"_** Fiona sang **_"~Glory of youth, Glowed in his soul, where is that Glory now?~"_**

The Song began to stir feeling within her, she had missed her Father dearly and hoped that he was indeed in a better place

 ** _"~Sing me a song of a lass that is gone Say, could that lass be I? Merry of soul she sailed on a day Over the sea to Skye~"_** She sang

"Beautiful Song" Came a voice

Fiona squealed before quickly turned around and saw Jaune, he was standing there smiling at her, Fiona took a deep breath in to ease her sudden fright. "By the god's Lad! You Fuckin' startled me!" Fiona cried

"Sorry," Jaune told her "Just had to say something"

"Liked it?" Fiona asked with a smile

"How could I not, you sang it beautifully" Jaune replied

Fiona blushed and her ears flapped, "stop saying stuff like that!" She cried with a smile, "you're making me blush!"

"Well I'm not wrong," Jaune told her "It's a lovely song, where did you learn it?" He asked

"My father use to sing it to me when I was a wee lass" Fiona replied "Loved it since then"

Jaune nodded, he could see the look in her eyes as she stared off into the sky. It was a look he known all too well, it was the same look he had when he remembered and missed his family.

"You never really told me about your parents," Jaune told her "what were they like?"

Fiona sighed, "My father was a veteran in the Faunus Rights-war, He was strong and sturdy, yet he was a big dope as well, kinda like you," Fiona told him "You would've like him"

Jaune looked at her, "what happened to him?" Jaune asked

Fiona looked at him and then back to the sky, "He was trying to break up a bar fight but then some drunkard broke a bottle and stabbed him in the throat" Fiona said with a bit of an angry tone.

"I'm sorry... I know what it's like to lose someone close to you" Jaune told her

"I just hated the fact that my father died such a rotten way, and by a drunk" Fiona grumbled, "my father was a good man, he didn't deserve to die on such a way," Fiona said

Jaune looked to her and could tell she was angry and very upset, he could see a small tear forming in her left eye and understood why she was in such mood if something like that ever happened to another one of his friends or family. Jaune moved closer to her and wrapped his arm around her body, holding her shoulder.

"He sounds like a good man," Jaune said "he raised a good daughter to"

Fiona smiled and wiped her eyes, already removing the tears before they could even fall. She appreciated that Jaune was comforting her, it felt nice and it made her happy to know that he could understand her in yet another way again.

"So about that date?" Jaune asked

"Yeah?" Fiona asked

"How about tomorrow? it's Sunday and I'm sure it'll be a good day for a date" Jaune told her

Fiona smiled again and nodded, "sounds grand" Fiona told him "anything Fancy?" She asked

"Nah, not yet al least," Jaune told her with a smile

Fiona chuckled, "good" Fiona said, "So have you figured out where are ya slipping lad?" Fiona asked

"Couch maybe," Jaune said

"Trust me Jaune, you sleep on that couch and in the morning your feel a bit bate," Fiona told him

"then where do I sleep? with you?" Jaune asked with a smiled

Silence filled the air as both Jaune and Fiona took in the words that were said. Both blushed, and while there was no innuendo there, it was still embarrassing for both of them. Fiona's ear flapped once before she turned back to Jaune

"I-I mean you could... if ya like?" Fiona asked, her face now red and her ears flapping again.

Jaune could barley contain his heartbeat and the blood rushing to his face, but then again, Fiona was right, and besides it couldn't be too bad

Right?


	7. A Date

**A/N: I'm not actually going to focus on an actual Full date between Jaune and Fiona, but we will still get a date in this chapter, but in this chapter, we will get hints and what Both Watts and Cinder are doing**

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Watts was currently in his little hideout as he looked over the information he had gotten about Jaune Arc. If Tyrian thought him worth to mention, then Watts thought he would indeed look into it, however, the more Watts looked the more he didn't find, there was nothing really special about him, he made it into to beacon with poorly made fake transcripts, how he got something like that Watts will never know since those things cost a lot of Lien, something you couldn't even buy on a farmers salary. So far the boy was average, he was a now somewhat a skilled Huntsmen, he was close with the silver-eyed girl as well as the young reincarnation of Ozpin, he grew up in the city of Orleans-

_'wait a second'_ Watts thought

He had heard of the Village before, not because it was one of Vales other bigger cities, but because he had been there on a mission from Salem. He remembered the city quite vividly actually. Salem had sent him there on a mission for some experiments, but if only he could remember. Then Watts had remembered he had kept his files of all his experiments on his old hard drive, however, that also required him to actually get it, it was on his personal computer back in his old lab, which was right by Atlas Academy.

Watts Sighed, "I can't believe how smart yet foolish my younger self was," Watts said with a chuckle "Well, Might as well get out and go for a stroll"

Watts then turned off his computers and grabbed his umbrella before heading out. Once out he saw that it was morning, and he took a deep breath in of the fresh, snowy air of Mantle

"Ah! What a Marvelous day it is"

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Fiona woke up to Jaune's arm wrapped around her, and she also noticed her hand was resting on his arm as well, she was confused on how they got like this but then she heard Jaune's tired voice from behind her.

"No Vi... no more make up" Jaune said in his sleep

Fiona almost couldn't handle what she heard and felt like she was going to burst out laughing. She understood how living with 6 brothers was like, but seven sisters were something she couldn't imagine, not that she never wanted a sister but having so many of them would probably give her a headache. Not to mention she couldn't count how many times she had her brothers annoyed her on so many different levels, how they acted, what they did, how dense they were, and let's not talk about the puberty days... Fiona shivered at the memories.

Anyways she slowly left the comfort of Jaune's embrace and her back and sides were no cold, she then grabbed some of her casual clothes and headed to her bathroom to change and take a shower. She took off her shorts and her tank top, before slowly removing her bra and panties and turned on the shower all the way to hot and then waited for the water to warm, which didn't take long, so she stepped in the shower. Grabbing her body wash she put some on her green lufa as she spread the soap around her body, before washing it off and then putting her shampoo in her hands and spreading it all around, before washing it out. Once all the soap was out of her hair, she turned off the shower and stepped out of it as she grabbed her towel and drying herself off.

She looked at herself in the mirror of her bathroom and saw the scar that Tyrian had given her. It started at the bottom of her waist before going upwards. it was about as long as a pen as was still fresh. She trailed her finger over it and remembered how he had somehow cut through her aura, which she would remember next time if she saw the bastard again.

Fiona got changed and put on her casual clothes while still in the bathroom, she wore a white shirt with under a green long-sleeved sweater and wore a pair of leggings with her fur boots and finally exited the bathroom, but once she looked in her room, she kinda regretted what she had seen.

Standing there with his shirt off was Jaune Arc. Fiona could see his muscles, Fiona knew he was fit, but seeing him without all that armor and gear on made her realize how much she was right and wrong, Jaune wasn't just fit, he was a hunk. he had broad shoulders, and his abs were that of a four-pack and his chest looked like it could take a gunshot and the bullet would bounce off and Fiona didn't notice all too well, but his arms were also muscular, he didn't look like one of those professional wrestlers but he looked more like those hot teens on drama shows.

"Fiona? you ok?" Came Jaune's voice

Fiona snapped out of her daze and looked at Jaune, her face now having a huge blush, "I-I'm fine Jaune, sorry I didn't realize you were changing"

Jaune's face began to blush as he realized that Fiona had walked on him changed, well it was only his shirt and thank goodness it wasn't his pants or his boxers, he had already had that problem with both Ruby and Nora while they were on the road to Mistral.

"hehe, Sorry," Jaune said as he put his coat on and threw his shirt with his bags.

"ain't nothing to be sorry for" Fiona replied _'Oum knowns I'm not sorry for seeing the lad half-naked, by the gods he's a hunk!'_ Fiona thought to herself

"So, when do you wanna start our date?" Jaune asked

Fiona looked at him and with most of the things going on this morning, she had almost forgotten that she indeed had a date with the blonde hunk today, however, she began to think in her mind, she looked at her clock and saw that it was 9:27 and it was a bit early to start their date, at least it was in her opinion, "how 'bout 6? it's dark and Mantles more Craic around then"

Jaune smiled, "sure sounds like a plan"

"I think ya mean it "sounds like a date" lad, this isn't a battle," Fiona said with a smirk

Jaune rolled his eyes while still having his signature smile on his face, "Alright well, I'm heading down for breakfast, you want me to make you something?"

"Breakfast in bed already? My, aren't we moving fast Jaune" Fiona said with a smile

"My mother always said that it's never too early in a relationship to make a women breakfast," Jaune told her

Fiona smiled, "I'll have whatever your making lad," Fiona said with a smile

Jaune smiled and headed down to the kitchen to find what he could make for him and Fiona, however, once he was downstairs he saw three very sleepy, groggy women by the counter, all seemed to be sipping a mug of coffee.

"Morning!" Jaune said with a smile

Robyn, May, and Joanna looked to Jaune before returning to their cups and sipping. Jaune went to the shelves and easily found the pans, he took one out and looked through the drawers and found a wisk.

"What are you doing?" Joanna asked

"Making breakfast," Jaune said, "you guys want any?"

Robyn, May, and Joanna looked at each other and then back to Jaune as he was waiting for their response

"you're going to cook us all Breakfast?" May asked

"Yep," Jaune said with a smile

"you can cook?"

All of them looked at each other again and each had the same thought within their heads.

_'How did Fiona get so lucky!'_

"Make sure you make enough for me," Joanna said

"I want some!" May shouted

"Make me some as well" Robyn replied

Jaune smiled and nodded. He mixed the Pancake mix in a bowl and then turned the stove on and set the pan on top, he waited till the pan was hot to the touch and he poured the mix on it in a semi-perfect circle. Jaune smiled, it was just like his mothers. Jaune turned around as he heard Fiona coming down the stairs, he saw how she smiled and greeted everyone else before going to the fridge and grabbing herself a cup of Cranberry Juice.

Jaune felt that it was going to be a great day.

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What Fiona said was true, Mantle was amazing when it was night, despite it looking like a city from a film noir, the city itself was as well as the people were festive, the streets were lit up with shops and stores and people walked around with smiles on their faces. Currently, Jaune and Fiona were at a cafe, Fiona was having some french Vanilla Coffee while Jaune was having a Cookies and cream frappuccino.

"you were right it is nice out," Jaune told her before taking a sip of his Frappuccino.

"You bet your ass I was," Fiona said with a smile

Jaune smiled, "so anything else you wanna do?" Jaune asked

Fiona looked at him and began to think, "A Movie?" She asked

Jaune nodded "Sounds good, which one?" Jaune asked

Fiona took a quick sip of her coffee and set it down, Before thinking it over, "how about that new spy movie, Live another week?" Fiona asked

"Wait, you watch Rames Bonds movies?" Jaune asked with a smile

"Of course! I love those movies!" Fiona said

"Then let's go see it," Jaune said

"Sweet!" Fiona said "Let me just use the Jacks first and we'll head over there"

Fiona got u and set her cup down as she went back into the store and asked for a key to the restroom. Jaune took another sip of his frappuccino and set it back down. Suddenly, a man sat right into Fiona's seat and looked inside the shop.

"Such a lovely lady you got there," Said the man

Jaune looked at the man, "yeah" Jaune replied as he eyed the man up and down "can I help you?" Jaune asked

"No Mr. Arc, but I think I can help you," Said the man

Jaune froze as he heard his last name leave the man's lips. Jaune felt on edge, somehow, this man had known his name and was not sitting across from him, worst of all, Jaune couldn't tell if he had a weapon on him, not to mention he didn't have Croceas Mors on him.

"Please be at ease Mr. Arc, I can assure you I mean no harm," Said the man "I only wish for a quick chat"

"Well then, since you know me, would you mind if I knew your name?" Jaune asked

The man smiled, "ah, forgive me, I had almost forgotten my manners" Replied the man "My name is Docter Arthur Watts"

Jaune's expression didn't change, his eyes widened a little, but besides that, he remained calm on the outside, however, on the inside, he was a little panicked. The man he knew was responsible for the outage at the rally was sitting right in front of him, one of Salems top-dogs were right here, sure he had met Cinder, Hazel, and Tyrian, but right now, Jaune had met another person that he could somewhat respect. Sure he worked for the woman that destroyed his school and was responsible for all the deaths that happened so far, but Jaune had to admit, for some ancient witch, Salem was smart, cunning, and dedicated to her goal, Jaune could admit that she was smart, as was her own little fraction, each were smart in their own way, Watts had to be the smartest of them all if he had to guess, he wasn't just tech smart, but he knew how to play Salems game, which is why it scared Jaune a little because he might've been the closest thing to Salem in terms of smarts and wit.

"A Pleasure to meet you Docter" Jaune said

"The same could be said to you Mr. Arc" Watts Replied

"What is it that you want?" Jaune asked

Watts scoffed, "Let's not play such games, my dear boy, I'm sure you know why I and Tyrian are here," Watts said

Jaune nodded, "The Relics as well as the Winter Maiden right?"

Watts nodded, "Indeed" Watts replied "But besides the two Relics here as well as the Winter Maiden, I think we've also stumbled upon something else that might be of great importance," Watts told Jaune

Jaune was now confused, something else of great importance? What the hell was he talking about? Jaune began to think what else he meant but nothing else came to mind unless Salem was still after Ruby or wanted Ozpin Dead again, but those seemed small in comparison to what she actually wanted, sure Ozpin was her rival, but right now, she was winning.

"I wish for us to meet again Mr. Arc, please meet me by the southern Docking station Tuesday morning," Watts told Jaune

Watts then got up and left, not even looking back at Jaune as he walked away. Jaune turned back around to see if He was indeed going to try something, however, it seemed that he didn't as he walked farther down the street.

"Jaune? you ok?"

Jaune turned back around and saw that Fiona had her cup in her hand and was looking at him. Jaune smiled, he quickly put his conversation with Watts to the side, he could bring it up later, but right now he wanted to focus on Fiona, he didn't want to ruin the moment with her.

"I'm fine, got a little caught up in my head," Jaune told her

Fiona nodded, "well, enough dilly-dallying around! Let's go see that Movie" Fiona said with a smile

Jaune nodded, he got up took his cup, and walked with Fiona to the movie theater, both arm in arm as they talked along the way, unaware that they were being watched by two pairs of eyes, one like fire and the others were mismatched.

"Let's go" Said Cinder "It seems we need to rethink some parts of our plan"

Neo rolled her eyes but nodded as the two left in the shadows, going back to their schemes.


	8. Betrayal

Jaune woke up next to Fiona for the third day in a row. He looked at her sleeping form and smiled, once again it seemed like something out of those romantic movies, where the guy would kiss the sleeping girl on the forehead, but he wasn't that cheesy or cliche, sorta. Anyway, he looked to her alarm clock to see it was 7:00 on the dot, he rubbed his eyes and then went to use the bathroom, lifted up the lid and seat, a lesson his mother and sisters beat into his brain. After finishing his business, he grabbed his scroll, put on his armor, and strapped Croceas Mors to his side and went downstairs, once there, the only other person up beside himself was Joanna.

"You're up early than usual," Joanna said

Jaune nodded, "Got something I need to do today, and Unforntenly I can't get you guys involved this time," Jaune told her

"Why's that?" Joanna asked

"It's about them," Jaune said "And as Much as you guys are already Involved, I need to do this alone, because this guy knows if I don't come alone"

"Is it that Watts Douche?" Joanna asked

Jaune nodded, "He found me while On my date with Fiona, told me to meet him this morning alone at the docks, and I have no doubt that this might be a trap, and if it is, I'm letting you know now," Jaune told her

Joanna nodded, "Sure you don't want us tagging along from a distance?" Joanna asked

"No, I'll be fine, But if I don't come back by 9:00 then I've gotten taken, and if that does happen, make sure you guys tell Ruby and the others, I left their contact info on a sheet of paper," Jaune told her

"Robyn and Fi might be a bit Peeved that you're not telling them this" Joanna said

Jaune grinned a little, "Yeah, and If I do get back, there'll be hell to pay, but I need to make sure I do this"

Joanna looked at him dead in the eyes and nodded, she let him go because she trusted him to have a plan and she trusted him to be safe because he was not like apart of her team, sure she didn't talk to him much, but he had gotten along with everyone else and he trusted them with information that was so secretive he could be put in jail just because the General didn't want the public knowing just yet. With the silent agreement made between the two, Jaune walked out and headed out. Jaune looked out and saw the snowy frontier, and let out a breath of air and walked out into Mantle.

He pulled out his scroll, and pressed on Ruby's contact and texted her that he was going to meet up with Watts but also told her not to come just yet as he was going to try and get information on Salem's plan from Watts and sent it. He just hoped that it all worked out in the end.

He walked along the sidewalk and looked around, He noticed a few shops with jewelry, some shops were clothing stores, and others were pawn shops, some were even liquor stores with free tasting. That had actually brought Jaune back to the first time he had drunk liquor. it was a few months before he ran off to attend Beacon, his Uncle Felix had given him a bottle of Lancer beer, he had taken a sip and it was actually sweet, but still, he could only drink around 10 before he passed out, after that, he had drunk it a couple of times, like after he passed the entrance exam, of course, he hid it from the rest of his teammates. he had also drunk some after they one their team match in the vytal Festival, and the last time he drank it was before they left Mistral and Haven. Jaune smiled at the memory, it was one of the many times he and his Uncle Felix spent time together. Felix was one of the many reasons Jaune wanted to become a Huntsmen, Felix had trained Jaune in regular Military Combat as well as Knife fighting, but beyond that, the rest he had gotten from his team training regime.

He kept walking and the street became less populated and he looked around again, his eyes landed on another figure across the street. it was a short woman about the same height as Weiss, she was waiting to cross the street over to Jaune's side, she had shoulder-length Black hair with green eyes, she wore a black coat over a black vest and white shirt with a bowtie. Jaune looked to see that street pretty much empty he stopped and looked to his feet and then bent down to tie his shoes as the woman crossed the street and was now right next to Jaune. Jaune then quickly grabbed his sword from his sheath and grabbed the girl from behind before quickly pulling her in a nearby Ally while keeping the sword pointed at the girl's neck.

"Next time you want to change disguises, make sure it doesn't look like the one you used before," Jaune told the girl "Mint right? No, Ruby told me your real name was Neo, right?"

The girl looked at Jaune with wide eyes as her expression filled with surprise, before she rolled her eyes and her real form showed, her hair turned brown and pink, and her outfit changed as well as the color of her eyes.

"Nice to meet you Neo, I'm Jaune Arc, but I'm sure you knew that," Jaune told her

Jaune felt her try to shift her way out of his hold, but he pressed Croceas Mors closer to her neck, with the edge now pressed into her neck, Neo knew that she wouldn't even have time to kick her way out of this, she was sure with how he had the sword close to her neck he could cut her throat faster then she could try to escape, and like her old partner in crime, she was a betting woman but knew that this was one of those bets you just don't take.

"Trust me when I say this, I don't want to kill you and while I would like to see you pay for your crimes in a cell, I'm actually kinda glad you're here, it means Cinder's here as well," Jaune told her

Neo Nodded

"Good," Jaune said "Now I'm gonna let you go and put my sword away so we can talk, you might wanna hear what I have to say," Jaune said

Neo raised her eyebrow with a confused look

* * *

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Watts sat on a bench that was near the dock, he looked t his watch to see the tome was 7:50, he looked and then saw a blond figure approching him and saw that it was indeed Jaune. Jaune sat right next to him and looked to Watts

"And here I thought you weren't coming," Watts said "Though I did expect you to come with someone at least, I know for a fact you're here alone"

Jaune nodded, "you wanted to talk, let's talk," Jaune said

"Straight to business, I like that about you Mr. Arc" Watts told him "What do you wish to know?"

"Are you the one who helped Jaques Schnee?" Jaune asked

"Yes, quite simple really, he's obsessed with power, which never works for those who are obsessed with it, not to mention manipulative, yet not all that smart, couldn't even tell that he was being set up, wanting to much power makes you become like that, it also makes one cruel and when you're cruel and manipulative to such an extent that you even accept a strangers help to rig an election, then your not so powerful, all you are is a fool but were not like that... well not is some aspects were not" Watts said with a smile

"I was about to compare you to Jaques but that wouldn't be fair," Jaune told Watts "Both of you are cruel and Manipulative, but your different, you only act in such a way when you need to, unlike Jaques who does so with everyone, thus why people hate him, but with you, if you had to talk with someone who wasn't part of your plans or even needed, to anyone else you're a gentleman and a man of knowledge and power," Jaune said

"Correct" Watts said, "But your no different are you?" Watts asked

Jaune looked at him, no glare, no confusion, just a look, and Jaune nodded, "I'll admit, I've manipulated people many times, some were my friends, and I've even manipulated the people I care about" Jaune told him

"All so you could know what our plan was right?" Watts asked

"Yep" Jaune replied

"Well, what If I told you I would give up our plan to you?" Watts asked

"No need, I pretty much figured it out, it's similar to Cinders," Jaune told him "cause some destruction here and there, make people feel hatred, fear, disgust, all the ugly emotions and then rain a hellfire of Grimm upon the kingdom," Jaune said "but there's one thing that still doesn't make any sense"

"Which is?"

"The Ultimate Weapon," Jaune said "In Vale, it was the Wyvern, but here? Atlas's defensive system is bigger then Vale and Mistral, sure some buildings might be destroyed and lives lost, but at the end of the day, Atlas will win, which got me thinking, what do they have that could turn the tides of a battle between a militaristic Kingdom and Grimm and then I figured it out"

"you did?" Watts asked

Jaune nodded

"Color me impressed, to tell, what do you think will turn the tides in our favor?" Watts asked

"You and Tyrian, you're here to make way for something bigger, something that'll win no matter what," Jaune said "And while I don't know what it is exactly, I know for a fact that with it, you'll win"

Watts smiled, "very good, You think just like Her," Watts said "Which I think brings me back to one of the main reasons I wanted to meet you"

"Really? and what is this reason?" Jaune asked

"Tell me, Mr. Arc, do you have more aura then your friends, and let me guess, it feels like there's so much of it it seems like you can't run out of it?" Watts asked

Jaune nodded, "Yeah... why?" Jaune asked

Watts smile widened and Jaune now grew suspicious. Jaune began to think that this is where the trap might be sprung, but Watts instead pulled out a piece of paper from his coat and handed it to Jaune, Jaune took it and opened it, He saw that it was two different graphs, one red and the other yellow, he also saw that at the bottom the two graphs were together and they both looked the same and on the bottom were the words that said that it was a match.

"What is this?" Jaune asked

"A Blood test" Watts replied, "but before I go more into detail, tell me Mr. Arc, have you ever heard of the WormWood Virus?" Watt asked

Jaune's eyes went wide, it knew very much about it, after all, he was infected by it when he was 9. "Yeah, I've heard of it, It was a minor sickness that infected my home town, everyone who was infected had died, except-"

"For you?" Watts said

Jaune nodded, "I was only saved because somehow my body had stopped it and the virus left my system somehow, some said it was a miracle that I even lived that long"

"What if I told you it wasn't a miracle that you survived? what if I told you that it really wasn't a virus that caused you to be sick?" Watts said with a smile

"What are you trying to tell me?" Jaune asked, his voice now being raised, Jaune wanted to know why Watts knew about it and what the hell the Blood test was about.

However, before Watts could say another word, multiple Bullhead's landed on the ground and so many Atlas soldiers ran out and surround the both of them. Jaune and Watts were confused about what was happening, However, both looked in the same direction when a familiar person got out of the Bullhead and walked right up to them. General Ironwood was right in front of them.

"Arthur Watts, you are under arrest for crimes against the kingdom of Atlas" Ironwood told him

Two guards cuffed Watts and lead him to the same Bullhead Ironwood had come in. Ironwood then turned to Jaune and his face showed annoyance as he looked at Jaune

"And you Mr. Arc, have a lot of explaining to do," Ironwood told him.


	9. Bad to Worse

**A/N: Before we get into the story, I just wanna say that in ch.10 and ch.11, it will be a bit more focused on Fiona and her blooming relationship with Jaune**

**I Also Just wanna say thank you all for the likes and comments I get for A Happy Huntress, It lets me know that I'm doing a Good Job. However, I will admit that before I posted Chapter 8 I was concerned that not many would like where I would be going with the story.**

**But thanks to a post on Tumbler that I saw called "7 Things I Want to See in RWBY Volume 8″, It let me know that I would be doing the right things for the future of the story.**

**Of course, not everything in that post is going to happen but they are right about a lot in the post. Such as Character interactions, Where the Characters are going, how we need some information on a certain Mama Rose as well as some development of a certain family.**

**I already planned on somewhat covering in the story, because of a few reasons, But I don't wanna get into them because explains it better then I would.**

**But back to what I have planned:**

**1\. We are going to get some relationships strained with the next couple of characters**

**2\. We are going to get more scenes with some characters who I feel deserved more in V7 (Whitley, Willow, Jaques, Ironwood, eta)**

**3\. If a Character makes a wrong or stupid decision, there will be a terrible outcome for them and those around them**

**4\. Sacrifices. Sometimes you gotta do bad things for the right reasons, and some of our characters will be forced to make some terrible decisions for the good of everyone else.**

**5\. Just like Volume 8 will be about mistrust, Betrayal will be very big in the story, so you know... trust no one and all that BS stuff**

**6\. Some Fluff here and there and maybe slight lemon in a reasonable time between Jaune and Fiona, as well as some bonding from a few other characters**

**But Yeah that's pretty much what I got for now so yeah**

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Jaune Stood in General Ironwoods Office, In front of him, of course, was Ironwood who had Winter on his left and Clover on his right, To Jaune's left was His own team, and to his right was RWBY. Jaune looked to his sister-team, and then back to his team, wondering who had told Ironwood, which pissed him off. He had been betrayed by one of his friends.

"You mind telling us where you've been, Mr. Arc?" Ironwood asked

"I Don't think I have to answer that" Jaune replied

Ironwood looked at him coldly, "You mind repeating that Mr. Arc?" Ironwood asked

"I said I don't think I need to answer that," Jaune told Ironwood

"And why is that?" Ironwood asked again

"Last time I checked I didn't take direct orders from you" Jaune replied firmly

Ironwood got up from his desk and looked at him, but still stared at Jaune, who stood firm and didn't break eye-contact with him. Ironwood saw down with a sigh, as he looked back at Jaune.

"I was hoping this would be a chance, to be honest with each other Mr. Arc, but I can see you don't trust me with whatever you're doing, but that's fine, I've already gotten the Information from Ms. Rose and Ms. Schnee," Ironwood told Jaune

Jaune's eyes widened as he turned back to look at the two and both looked down in shame. Jaune turned back to the General but didn't say a word.

"However, you should be happy to know that tomorrow, all of us will be heading to the Schnee Manor to Meet with Jaques, I hope we can find something to possibly prove that he had cheated," Ironwood said "And You will be coming with, like it or not"

Jaune wanted to say that he had already known Jaques had cheated with the help from Watts but was no going to keep that information to himself and he wasn't going to tell Ironwood about what might be coming, he had already said that in the case of Salem's attack, he would raise Atlas higher, abandoning Mantle to its fate, and Jaune wouldn't let that happen.

"Can I go now, General?" Jaune asked

Ironwood nodded, "yes, but I would advise you not to do anything rash any time soon," Ironwood told him

Jaune nodded and with the two teams behind him, they had left the office. They walked down the hall and once far enough in an empty hallway, Jaune grabbed Ruby by her hood, lifted her, and pinned her to the wall next to him with such force, he was sure the might be a hole in the wall. Weiss was about to do something but Yang stopped her, Which surprised Weiss, and before she could yell at the blonde, Weiss noticed that Yang's eyes on the verge of red.

"WHY!? WHY THE HELL DID YOU TELL HIM!?" Jaune yelled

Ruby looked at Jaune, she was scared and taken aback by his sudden outburst and it didn't help that she was just thrown/pinned into a wall.

"It was the right thing to do! I didn't tell him everything, but I told him that you found Watts and that you were meeting him by the docks!" Ruby replied

"Damn it, Ruby, do you have any idea what you just did!?" Jaune yelled

"I stopped things from getting out of hand Jaune, with Watts still out there, he would've caused more problems!" Ruby cried

"No! You didn't make things better! Now Watts won't talk and worst of all, we have no idea what they're planning!" Jaune cried "If I could've talked to Watts a bit longer he would've explained what the hell they had planned!"

"and why do you think that?" butted In Weiss

Jaune looked to her, before letting ruby go as she dropped back to the floor on her feet as Jaune walked toward Weiss. Weiss held a firm expression, but hadn't seen Jaune this upset since the attack on Haven and saw Cinder.

"He was being open with me, not to mention he knows some things that most of you don't even know about me, and for some reason, he was willing to tell me everything" Jaune replied "I had the situation under control, that was until 10 fucking Bullheads showed up and arrested the man who would talk to me"

Weiss stood silent, and Jaune just looked at the two girls with a glare

"You wanna talk about doing the right thing Ruby, we haven't been doing the right thing since the moment we got here," Jaune told her "As far as I'm concerned, are we any better then Ozpin and Salem?"

"What is that suppose to mean?" Came Ren's voice

Ren glared at Jaune and Jaune glared back, "You know damn well what that means, Since we got here we've been keeping information from Ironwood" Jaune replied

"You agreed to it" Ren replied

"yeah I'll admit I did, but the problem now is we've already gone too far, with everything that's happening, Ironwood wants to take action, which is not going to end well" Jaune replied "Also have you forgotten and Salem has been 5 steps ahead of us this entire time? and why do you think that is?" Jaune asked

No one answered

"It's because we've been blindly following the people Salem knows how to fight! Salem knows Ozpins weakness, She knows Ironwood's weakness, we haven't attacked, we've been getting attacked and I'm sick of it! I'm sick of Salem being ahead of us because we allow it to happen! Ospin let it happen! Ironwood is letting it happen! and you two just let it happen!" Jaune cried

"No, we didn't!" Ruby yelled "We stopped more chaos from happening! that's a win, with Watts in custody Tyrian can't do anything without him and as soon as we find out Weiss father rigged the election, we can put him away too and the right person will get elected, with that we'de bring back a little of the peace and carry out ith ironwoods plan with the Amity Tower. I couldn't give you a week knowing that Watts and Tyrian might cause more trouble, you need to trust me on this Jaune"

"Trust you!? What about trusting me and my plan!?" Jaune cried

"You know as well as we do that they would've gotten away after your little meeting and caused more destruction," Weiss said "I and Ruby couldn't take that chance, we couldn't trust your plan"

Jaune looked at her and shook his head, he walked off away from everything and left RWBY and the rest of his team behind.

"Why didn't you two get involved?" Weiss asked Blake and Yang

"Because I wasn't in the wrong, I agree, Jaune's plan might've not been the best, but we still should've trusted him, But I still think we did the right thing" Blake replied

"And Jaune's right, he's right about everything, I told Ozpin no more secrets but I and all of us are just doing the same as him, were lying just so we can manipulate Ironwood into thinking there's a way to stop Salem," yang said "We're no better then Ozpin and Salem"

"You don't really believe that do you?" Ren asked "I think we're doing what's best for now, and once this is all over and we find out what Salem is up to, we can stop it and put an end to all of this"

"And how are we suppose to do that when the very person who knows her plans and was willingly giving them to our leader, is now locked up and his lips most likely sealed uptight," Nora asked "We Should've let Jaune go on with his plan, despite what may happen, it would've been best"

"Nora, you can't be serious!?" Blake cried "What if more people got hurt or something like the rally happened again?"

"I don't want people getting hurt! but sometimes we need to do things we don't like" Nora said "and as much as I hate to say it... even if that means letting a few people die..."

"No, I refuse to let anyone get hurt because of us," Ruby said

"But it's not us, we didn't kill them, we didn't hurt them, we didn't do anything to them, it's Tyrian and Watts who have blood on their hands" Nora replied

"but their blood would be on our hands! we could've stopped it and if we did nothing and let things play out, more people would've been hurt" Ruby cried "Our Job is to save and protect people, it's our job has huntsmen"

Nora shook her had and Yang sighed, Oscar looked down a little once he heard Ruby's words.

Nora walked up to Ruby and looked her in the eye, "We can't save everyone, Ruby... no matter how hard we try, we can't save every single person" Nora said as she walked past Ruby and down the hall.

"I'll follow her, make sure she won't do anything rash," Ren said as he followed behind her

Oscar looked at his new teammates leave, while Ruby, Weiss, and Blake were making their way down the hall and to their dorm, Yang was about to follow, but she saw Oscar looking to the ground as if it was about to give him the answers to life. Yang turned to him and walked up to him

"Oscar? You ok?" Yang asked

Oscar stared at the ground for a second before looking at her, "I... I've been thinking and with Oz stuck in my head and everything I've seen him do... It made me ask myself if I'm still me, I've been afraid that I'm going to disappear, it works to ways yang, either he takes control and I fade or we co-exist but with him locking himself away..." Oscar stopped as he took a deep breath in "I don't want to follow the same path he's continually taken, I've seen how Ironwood works, for myself and with Ozpin's memories and Jaune's right, He's a man of to much action, not to mention he underestimated Salem and is still underestimating her now... it might be best to follow Jaune's plan, I trust him and despite his hatred for the man in my head, Jaune knows I'm not him, I trust him and he hasn't shown me a reason not to"

Yang looked at him and shook her head in understanding. Jaune was a trustworthy guy and despite not hanging out with him much as well as barley talking to him, she knew just like everyone, Jaune would give up his own life willingly before he let his friends get hurt, but his willingness to die scared her as well as everyone else, she just hoped he wouldn't act the same way he did at Haven. She had hoped that with that Fiona girl he wouldn't be so willing, and he wasn't but he still wanted to protect his friends, no matter what. Yang knew how she thought sometimes, she had been in some of those situations, and as much as it pained her to say this or admit this to herself, she would've killed her own mother if she hurt Ruby, Weiss, Blake, or Qrow, it might not be something she could ever live with herself, but if it meant protecting the family that she chose, then it was worth it.

"I know where you're coming from Oscar," Yang told him "Jaune's trying to do things most of us wouldn't be ok with, he's trying to make the hard decisions that none of us could, and he's trying to take the world on his shoulders, I've been there, and I agree with him, and we need to show him support, but for now, We stick with the Orginal plan, at least until Ruby or Jaune have a better one"

Oscar nodded, "Yang?"

"yeah?"

"If Jaune's right and Ruby's wrong... what would you do? would you still follow Ruby as your leader, or would you side with Jaune if Ruby's plan failed?" Oscar asked

Yang looked at him, and her eyes fell to the floor, a hard question it was, Yang didn't know what to do, Ruby was her sister, and Yang would die for her, but Ruby could never see the other side of things, she always thought words and kindness would save the world, but that's not how it worked. Ruby was naive to the real world, and while Ruby could be seen as a beacon of hope, her judgment wasn't always the best. The proof of this was when she tried to talk with Raven. Ruby was blind to the truth, the world that they lived in... couldn't be saved by a small hope, However, if things got tough and Ruby's leadership failed them at such a time like this... What would she do

"I'll be honest Oscar... I don't know and I hope I don't have to make such a choice" Yang told him as she walked away, leaving Oscar alone in the wide and empty hallway...

* * *

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Jaune walked to his room, for now, he was alone, but he had no doubt that if he did something "Rash" Ironwood would have him followed, instead of just telling Jaune that he would be monitored, he implied it without saying a word, which was stupid in Jaune's eyes. However, Jaune wasn't done, if Ironwood thought he won this little game, he was dead wrong, as was Salem, to everyone, including his friends, Jaune was the last person that they would suspect at playing this little game of chess. Jaune would win, no matter what. Jaune decided to think of a new plan, one that he had to keep mostly to himself until he could find which of his friends he could trust, everyone was at odds with each other but Jaune knew who might be on his side so it was still a bit simple, however, it would at least a day to figure out who he could trust. For now however, he needed Watts out of his cell, that was step one, he needed to fully plan out what he had in mind. He needed to fool both Salem as well as Ironwood, keep the belief that they were still fighting each other and not some secret 3rd party.

However, he grabbed his scroll from his pocket and sent a text to Fiona, telling her about what happened and what he needed to do now. She had also told her about Jaques dinner invitation, to which she responded that Robyn was also invited, which meant that the Happy Huntresses would also be there, which was good, right now, until he could figure out who he could trust with his friends. Fiona told him to be safe and he promised, letting her know that an Arc never goes back on their word, with that, they said goodbye and said that they would see each other tomorrow.

If Jaune could make a plan, one that would fool both parties, he would win the game, he would win, all he needed was to put the pieces in their places, but before he could make such a plan he still needed to know why Watts knew he was sick, and what it all meant.

The Game was far from over, but if Jaune's grand plan worked, the game would end for good.


	10. Lamb and Scorpion

It was late that night, Nora and Ren and went back to their dorm room and said they would rest, though he twinkle in Nora's eye said something else. So, why they did their "resting" Jaune and Oscar were currently playing a game of chess.

Despite not playing much, Oscar had been pretty good at the game, but he was still nowhere near Jaunes level, however, Jaune himself wasn't even as good as his grandmother, Betty Miles Arc. No one in the family could beat Betty, and the only ones close to beating her were Jazz, Lily, Jessie, and Jaune, though Lily was the closest due to her being the smartest of the Arc Children.

Betty used to play chess all the time and she even told a story about how she once played a game of chess with the great Lyanna Raider, a female general of the Vacovian army who actually helped win the Faunas rights war.

Betty Arc or sometimes known as "Black Betty" was a retired huntsman and general who had fought in the Faunas rights war. She was one of the smartest Arc in the family, her mind was unmatched and she swore she would pass down such power to her children and grandchildren, however, when asked how she got her nickname, Betty would smile and tell them it would be another time.

It was almost the end of the game and both Oscar and Jaune had a few pieces left. Jaune moved his pawn to a certain spot, which confused Oscar

"A pawn?" Oscar asked

"yes, a pawn" he replied

"why would you move that instead of your other pieces?"

Jaune smirked "A lot of people forget that pawns are important, they are the only pieces that can get your other pieces back and some also forget that even a pawn can bring down kingdoms"

Oscar saw that the pawn was to the side of the king, so he then moved his King to kill the pawn.

"Poor pawn," Oscar said with a smile

"I think you mean poor king," Jaune replied

Jaune had moved his Queen in front of the King.

"Queen takes King" Jaune said "checkmate"

Oscar smiled, "you win," He said "another round?"

Jaune nodded, and they set up the pieces again, ready to play another round. As the round began, Oscar decided to start a small chat

Oscar moved his first pawn one space, "So... hows it going with that Fiona girl?" Oscar asked

Jaune moved his first pawn only one space as well, "Well, we went on another date Sunday, and It was great" Jaune said "It's actually pretty fun just being around her"

Oscar moved one of his pawns two spaces "Sound awesome" Oscar said

Jaune then moved the same pawn up one more time, "So, what about you?" Jaune asked with a smirk "any special lady in mind?"

Oscar blushed and then moved his knight "No... not really" Oscar replied

Jaune raised an eyebrow while still having smirking, "really? Then what about those stares at Ruby huh?" Jaune asked while moving another pawn two spaces.

Oscar went wide-eyed while his blush intensified, "I-It's not like that" Oscar replied, as he moved another pawn up two spaces.

"Sure it isn't," Jaune said as he moved the rook on his left side one space behind his pawn.

"beside... even if it was like that, I-I just don't think it'll work out" Oscar replied moving his knight again

"Why do you think that?" Jaune asked, moving his bishop four spaces.

"I have a thousand-year-old wizard in my head, who all of you use to know as the headmaster of Beacon, and not to mention, I could just... fade," Oscar said sadly,

Jaune looked at Oscar and saw that he now held sadness in his eyes, Jaune was aware that Oscar could just fade and all that would be left would be Ozpin or Ozma. Jaune did feel sorry for him, he couldn't understand what exactly he could be going through, but knowing that you might just fade and someone else will take over your body and life, it no doubt scared him, after all, there was not a lot Oscar had done yet.

"I could understand how weird it could become, but... I say take the chance" Jaune said

Oscar looked at him, "you think so?"

Jaune nodded, "Yeah, and I'll be honest with you Oscar, despite my dislike for Ozpin and his methods, your not him, like Ren, you're like my brother, and I know whats going on with you is difficult, but if you do fade, which I hope doesn't happen at all, I don't want you missing out on what it was like to be with someone, even if that time is short," Jaune told him

Oscar looked at him and smiled before returning to the chess-board. Oscar allowed Jaune's words to sink in and he nodded, "Maybe your right... Maybe I should give it a chance" Oscar replied

Jaune smiled and nodded, "how about we continue this game another time? I'm already bord and you look like you want to think over some things" Jaune replied

"Sure," Oscar said with a smile

Jaune and Oscar put the board and the pieces back and began to head for their room.

"Thanks, Jaune" Oscar said

"Anytime Oscar" Jaune replied

They entered their dorm to find Ren and Nora asleep with one another and thankfully they were fully clothed, Oscar, changed into his sleepwear as did Jaune, and both head to their beds and went to bed. Or tried to go to bed in Jaune's case. despite the short time being with Fiona, he had already gotten used to sleeping next to her, despite it being a small bed that he completely fitted on, it had somehow felt... empty.

* * *

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Fiona was just patrolling the streets of Mantle, it was something she did now what with Salems agents walking around. She also didn't want to go to bed just yet she tried to already, but it just didn't feel right, the bed just felt empty and she was worried about him as well, she had hoped he didn't get in trouble with General Irondick. She knew she was going to at least see him tomorrow, but she still worried about him and she didn't know why because there were so many reasons.

Fiona let out a heavy sigh "I'm falling hard for the lad" Fiona told himself

Fiona knew it was just a few days, but honestly, she had found herself building such a connection with Jaune. It was just fun being around him, he was awkward sure, but once you got past that, he was smart, fun, loyal, strong, brave, and selfless. Something not a lot of guys had these days. Jaune truly was that 1 in 100 kinda guy, and she just couldn't wait for tomorrow to come.

Fiona was still patrolling by 10:00 and she was near the wall, making sure no Grimm was going to sneak their way in, luckily there was no sign of the Grimm. However, Fiona heard the crunching of snow and quickly turned around and grabbed her weapon. It wasn't Grimm however, it was a man in a cloak standing across from her. She still held out her weapon, because she didn't like the feeling that the man was giving off.

"Finally, alone with the princess at last," Said the voice

Fiona immediately recognized the voice and was about to charge bit the man held up his hand to stop here

"Easy Little lamb, I just wish to talk, I swear on the goddess I will not harm you tonight," Said the man as he began taking off his hood "I'm sure your aware of who I am"

Fiona nodded, "your Tyrian Callows"

Tyrian smiled, "Well I'd be hurt if you didn't remember me, I am the one who attacked you after all" Tyrian said with a chuckle

"What do ya want you bastard?" Fiona asked

"I just want to talk," Tyrian said, "tell me little lamb, what is the Brave Knight to you?"

"why do you care?" Fiona asked with anger

Tyrian chuckled, "My dear sweet little lamb, I care because I'm wondering what he means to those around him... what makes him and I so different, the first time I met him I sensed a great deal of pain, yet there was also something else, it wasn't until I learned from someone else that he didn't fear death, after all, he charged at cinder with just pure rage, I knew then, that he doesn't fear death, and neither do I, the question is, what makes us different?"

Fiona looked at him with rage, but a bit of confusion, in all honestly it sounded like he was just babbling. Tyrian noticed the small look of confusion on her face and smiled.

"Ah, you wouldn't understand," Tyrian said "But I just want to ask you dear lamb, would you die for him? Because I know that he would die for you and trust me, I have a pretty good guess on who will kill the brave knight"

as soon as she heard his words, Fiona knew what he was implying. Fiona was on the edge of just rushing him and fighting him, but Tyrian just smiled again and again held out his hand as if he already knew what she wanted to do, He looked at her and his eyes turned purple.

"But before the grand finale between him and I, I do need his help, which I'm sure won't be that hard," Tyrian said, "After all... there something, not even he knows about himself, and once it's revealed, will you still look at him the same?"

Before she could reply Tyrian was already rushing away. Fiona wanted to chase after him but... for some reason, she didn't want to, she was angry at implying that he'd be the one to kill Jaune, but the more he talked, the more she was confused, was Tyrian not the only one interested in Jaune for some other odd reason? What did they know about him that even he didn't know? It worried her if Jaune was a target, could she do anything?

She just wanted the next day to come quickly so she could see Jaune and make sure that everything was ok.

* * *

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**A/N: Again I know there wasn't a lot of Fiona in the chapter, but the next one will be about Fiona and Jaune, but mostly Fiona finding out more about Jaune from the others, including Qrow.**

**Also, more things will be answered such as Jaune's connection to Salem, Neo and Jaune's conversation, and Willow and Whitley will have more character development in the next two chapters, but it will be small but play a little bit of a role for Jaune's ultimate plan.**

**If you were a little bit confused on this chapter, sorry, It may seem rushed but It's written this way because there were more hints with Jaune's small connection with Tyrian and I also thought that I might at a little bit more of how Fiona feels about Jaune and how hard she's already fallen for him.**


	11. At Schnee Manor

For Fiona, today was going to be an eventful day, as she and the rest of them would go with Robyn up to Atlas and to the Schnee manor to meet the cold dickhead known as Jaques Schnee. However, she still didn't sleep that night due to what had happened the night before and her worry added to that as well. Because she didn't sleep as night and spent most of the night patroling, she asked Joanna if she could do her daily rounds since she hadn't slept due to her patroling during the night, Joanna nodded but told her that she needs to rest, Fiona agreed and went up to her room and didn't bother taking off her boots she just fell flat on it and fell asleep.

Later, she was woken up by May as it was time to go, and with her already being in uniform, they all left their base and headed to the Bullhead docks. Finally, they arrived in Atlas, and thankfully, there was a car with waiting for them to take them to the Manor, they all got in and headed to the Manor. Once at the Manor and they had also seen that another car pull up, exiting out of it was The Ironwood with the Ace Ops, and in another car was the hooded girl and her team, Ruby if Fiona remembered and Finally, the final car doors opened and out came the person she was looking for along with his team. Fiona saw Jaune and smiled at him and Jaune looked at her and gave him a small wave with a smile. Fiona went over to Jaune and stood next to him before they could talk or say a word, they already arrived at the door and once the large group arrived at the door, it opened to reveal a short pale boy with white hair and blue eyes, He wore a light blue vest over a white shirt and wore dark blue pants if Fiona had to guess this must've been one of the Schnee kids

"Hello everyone," Said the kid

"W-where's Klien?" Weiss asked

"What a wonderful way of saying, "Hello dear brother how have you been?". You won't find him here, He was let go, can't imagine why" Said the kid

This confirmed to everyone that this was Winter and Weiss younger brother, Whitley, and whoever this Klien person was seemed to have an Impact on Weiss, at least that's the expression that everyone got.

"General how big to you think our dining room table is?" asked Whitely

"I happen to know it's quite enormous, but most of my guests will be on standby and they will be happily celebrating your father's victory," Ironwood said with a bit of a small smile, though most knew he didn't mean it.

they were lead in and everyone was met with a large hall and the floor was adorned with the Schnee crest.

"For those of you joining us in the dining room, follow me," Said Whitley

Ironwood, Winter, Clover, Penny, and Robyn followed him, while everyone else stayed in the hall. Everyone went off to do their own thing, Qrow, Marrow, and Harriet went to patrol the grounds, while elm and Vine went on to enjoy the party or in Elms words "eat them out of the house". Weiss went off do look around only to be stopped by her brother, everyone saw how the two siblings acted around each other.

"Oh boy, this could be a problem" Oscar stated

"Why won't this kid buzz off?" Yang asked

"We need to do something," Blake said

Jaune began to think, "what was that earlier about breaking things?" Jaune asked with a smile

He looked to Nora who was smiling and jumping in anticipation, Jaune gave her the go-ahead and she began grabbing food, while Jaune walked around with Fiona and Ren held a plate of cake and walked around, Nora had an absurd amount of food on her plate as she walked across from Ren, they walked in the opposite direction with Ren bumping into her on purpose and Nora began to make a scene and she fell while dropping her food. Ren smiled and Jaune gave a thumbs up but the food landed on a very round woman on her dress which caused her to freak out and spill her wine on Whitley. Weiss looked shocked.

"If you'll excuse me," Whitley said as he walked off

This allowed Weiss to go up the stairs and walk around the manor, while Everyone else stayed around but split up to enjoy the festivities.

"That was your master plan?" Fiona asked Jaune

"It worked didn't it?" Jaune asked with a smile

Fiona rolled her eyes with a smile, "Aye, I suppose it did" Fiona replied

* * *

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Weiss walked the halls and looked around if she could get any information on her father it would be in his office. Weiss just needed to get there without being caught on what she was doing. She ran into one of the waitresses here but told them that she was alright and then kept heading to her father's office. Once inside she shut the door and let out a heavy sigh

"Hello Darling"

Weiss turned around only to be met with the last person she actually expected, Her mother Willow Schnee. Her mother had a bottle of Vodka in one hand and set a glass down on the desk.

"What are you doing in your father's office?" Willow asked

Weiss looked a bit surprised but then looked down, "just looking for something I left" Weiss said "I need to use fathers computer"

"why?" Willow asked

"Because... I think he may have done something wrong" Weiss said

"I thought we all simply assumed that at this point" Willow replied as she leaned against the side of the desk

"Yes, well, some of us are trying to do something about it" Weiss replied

Weiss instantly knew that it was a low blow on her part and felt regret, Willow nodded at her daughter before going for the bottle and drinking straight from it, causing Weiss to be a bit uneasy. Willow finished and looked to her daughter, she then set the bottle down.

"He started locking his own computer," Willow told Weiss, She then picked up her scroll and opened it, "but... he still has blind spots"

She showed Weiss her scroll and on it was a live recording of them, Weiss then turned to her mother

"you put a camera in here?" Weiss asked

"I put them in every room of this house, for our safety, in case I ever need it!" Willow said, her voice sounding a bit frantic, she then looked back at Weiss "You haven't come back to stay, have you?"

"No," Weiss said with a shake of her head

Willow smiled, "good, that's good" Willow replied as a tear fell from her eyes and she wiped it away before walking off "No matter what happens Weiss... please don't forget about your brother," Willow told her

Weiss expression saddened "Whitley wants nothing to do with me" Weiss replied

"Of course he doesn't... you left him alone... with us" Willow replied "He was alone, no interaction with his older sisters, no one to protect him... he was alone, with two of the worst people in this house"

Weiss then looked at the Scroll her mother handed her and played the Video.

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within a back room, far from the eyes of everyone else, Whitley was trying to clean himself off, however, because it was red wine, it was going to cause a huge stain.

"Oi! Told ya we find the wee lad here" Came a voice

Whitley turned around only to be met with a white-haired girl with sheep ears and wearing the Happy Huntress uniform with a staff/crossbow on her back and a blonde boy dressed in armor with a sword attached to his side and spiked up hair.

"May I help you?" Whitley asked them

"no, we just came to check on you makein' sure you alright" Replied the girl

"Uh-huh, and you are...?" Whitley asked

"The names Fiona Thyme and this 'ere is Jaune Arc, my boyfriend" Fiona replied

Jaune smiled, "we're friends of your sister" Jaune replied

"Which one?" Whitley asked

"Weiss" Jaune replied

Whitley huffed, "I see, come to gloat on my sister's behalf?" Whitley asked

"quite the opposite actually" Jaune replied "I've heard a little bit about you"

"Really? I assumed my sister wanted nothing to do with me or this place" Whitley said

"now why wouldya think that?" Fiona asked

Whitley looked like he wanted to answer but steeling his expression, "it's none of your business" Whitley replied

"you got us there lad" Fiona replied

"Yeah, it might not be our business but, I can see how You both used to be the same" Jaune replied

"What do you mean?" Whitley asked

"When Weiss came to Beacon, she was up-tight, snotty, and acted like a brat who didn't get a toy when she didn't get the position of team leader"

"Sounds like she had a stick up her arse," Fiona said with a chuckle

"I-Indeed it does," Whitley said as a smile slowly showed on his face

"But then we got to know why she was like that, she was afraid to show who she really was, afraid to let anyone get close to her, however, spending time around her team, the people who didn't judge her for her last name, she opened up, why do you think she might have been a bit different when she came back?" Jaune asked

Whitley nodded, "Why are you telling me this?" Whitley asked

"I know I'm a stranger and all but... you remind me of her when she was starting in Beacon, and we've all guessed what your lives were like... I'm sorry that you had to go through whatever it was, but know that Weiss, she still cares for the family" Jaune said

Whitley looked at him, "how would you know that?" Whitley asked

"Why else would she be here? she swallowed her pride just step foot in this place, and while it might not be to see you, she did it for your family, At least that's what she told me" Jaune replied with a chuckle

Whitley looked back to the floor and took in Jaune's words, his expression softened before it returned formal, he got up not a little dry and went to go change clothes, but before leaving he turned back to the Jaune "Thank you for telling me this Mr. Arc" Whitley replied before he left

Jaune and Fiona watched as he left.

_"After all... there something, not even he knows about himself, and once it's revealed, will you still look at him the same?"_

Fiona looked at Jaune as the words of Tyrian came to her. What did Jaune not know about himself? What could it be that it could cause everyone to turn on him? She looked to him as he smiled and watched Whitley walk away and look for someone.

"Jaune?" Fiona called

"Yeah Fi?" Jaune asked

"There's something I need to tell you" Fiona began "Tyrian came to me last night and told me something"

Jaune looked at her with worry, "what did he tell you?" Jaune asked

"He just told me that there was something about ya that you didn't even know about and that it might change how people look at ya" Fiona replied, "Any Idea what it could be?" She asked

Jaune looked at her and he began to think, but then shook his head "No, I don't have a clue" Jaune replied

Fiona nodded but could tell that the words affected him as he was in deep thought. she grabbed his hands and looked at him and he was taken out of his thoughts and looked back to her. She smiled at him before she brought his head down and kissed him, Jaune felt her lips on his and then eased into the kiss as well. they parted and looked at each other.

"Whatever it is, no matter what it is, I promise that I'll always be there for you Jaune," Fiona told him

Jaune's eyes widened and then they returned as he gave her a soft smile and nodded, "thanks Fiona" Jaune replied

"You told me that an Arc never goes back on their word, so I want ya to promise me somethin'," Fiona asked

"Anything" Jaune replied

"when everythin' is finished, and we get that bastard Tyrian, you come back safe and alive, Promise?" Fiona asked

Jaune smiled at her and nodded, "Promise, on my honor as an Arc"

* * *

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** Earlier that day: **

Jaune entered the Cell of Watts and looked at him as Watts turned back and looked back to him,

"Ah! Mr. Arc! to what do I owe the unexpected pleasure?" Watts asked

"I Need to know what the hell you were talking about" Jaune asked

"what do you mean?" Watts asked "If this is another one of Jame's attempts to get information out of me it won't work," Watts told him

"No, What did you mean when you said that it wasn't a miracle that I survived the Wormwood Virus?" Jaune asked

Watts smiled, "Ah, so you do remember that's good" Watts replied "I'll get straight to the point this time, you see Mr. Arc, the Wormwood Virus wasn't an actual Virus"

"What do you mean by that?" Jaune asked

"Well simple, you see a long time ago, Salem had a theory about how different the 2nd generations of humans were, so she wanted me to perform a test" Watts replied

"What kind of test?" Jaune asked

"To see if they could unlock magic," Watts said, "You see since magic was taken, we humans today aren't naturally born with it, however, that's not entirely true, after all, we actually have an advance form of Magic that not even Salem or Ozpin use to poses, can you take a guess at what that is?"

"Aura" Jaune asked

"Exactly" Watts replied "Aura is a reflection of a person soul, while Salem told me that magic just came naturally to people born with it, however, it didn't work like aura and semblances," Watts told her

"So she wanted to test if there was some way to activate this type of magic within herself?" Jaune asked

"No, she wanted to see if magic could be activated in us to see if the 2nd humans could tap into Magic" Watts began "so she came up with the Idea, use her own blood"

"Her blood? why?" Jaune asked

"Simple, her Blood had both the 1st humans potential at using magic withing herself, she also had Grimm essence in her, which as you know it poisonous to Humans, she also did this to see that if it was possible for the 2nd humans to do magic then she could build an army with them, so I conducted the experiments, however, she wanted me to do it in Vale due to the fact that Ozpin was there, so I did, I went there and decided that your village would be the perfect testing ground"

"So then what did you do?" Jaune asked

"Well I could just inject people with Salem's blood so I created a small mechanical army of robotic wasps, which would fly around and look for anyone to sting"

Jaune wanted to protest this but then he remembered that when he was playing outside with his older sisters he had been stung by something. He looked in realization.

"You see, the blood would infect the body and since it had Grimm essence in it, the essence would slowly destroy the person body, but if they were lucky then Salem's blood would replace their own blood and wash away the Grimm essence and activate their hidden potential for Magic, however, as you know, most didn't survive," Watts told him

The Realization hit Jaune in waves, just by what Watts was telling him, Jaune was able to figure out

"I see you're already figuring it out" Watts replied

"Are you saying that... I survived thanks to Salems Blood?" Jaune asked

"Yes, as it turned out, most of the people infected with Salem's blood were adults and teens, with only 1% being a kid," Watts said "I don't know how you were the only one survived, maybe it was indeed a Miricle, maybe it was sheer dumb-luck, there are many reasons... but yes, Salem's blood did save you but it also did something else as you might've guessed"

"So In a way... I'm a Clone of Salem?" Jaune asked, his head just processing the realization"

"Yes, her blood replace yours and fought off the Grimm essence because her blood had not only resisted it, but her body was use to having it in her again this explanation should also explain why the others infected could've survived but I had a guess as to why they were too old to have the potential opened," Watts said "Salem did tell me once that magic could only be opened when they were a child, so maybe that's why"

Jaune still couldn't believe it, he was in some way a clone of Salem. His whole life seemed to not make sense anymore and the realization that he should've died hit him hard and the only reason he didn't was due to the women they were trying to stop, the women who was responsible for all the deaths he's seen so far. In some twisted way, he owed his life to Salem. Jaune got up and headed back to the door of the Cell.

"I hope you consider this well Mr. Arc, I'm sure you'll make the best choice for yourself," Watts said as Jaune left.

As Jaune left, his face held bewilderment and shock but he saw that the rest of his team was approching and Jaune quickly shook off his current expression and looked to his friends.

"Come on Jaune, the cars about to leave and we better get there quick," Nora said

Jaune nodded, "R-Right" Jaune replied "let's get going," he said as he left with his team

The words of Watts ringed in his head, Watts told him to make the best choice, not the right choice, but the best choice...

But Jaune had already gone too far with his plan. All that mattered now was continuing on with the plan he had in mind, he just had to tweak it a little, which meant he might have to do things he didn't like doing...


	12. Breakout and Betrayal

Watts was in the Alleyway within Atlas, hiding. In front of him was Neo, Watts looked at her and recognized her as Roman's old Partner, however, he had no idea what she was doing here or why she was helping him, Unless...

"Did Cinder send you?" Watts asked

Neo turned to him and shook his head

"Then who sent you to break me out?" Watts asked

Neo looked at him before pulling out her scroll and then showing her a picture of who ha sent her. Watts looked at it and smiled with his eyes a bit wide

"I must say, I'm a little surprised it was him, but I guess he made the best choice after all," Watts told her "So now what? Surely you have a plan for getting us town to Mantle?" Watts asked

Neo smiled as she cloaked herself and Watts in her semblance and they now looked like two different people. Watts looked at himself and smiled, Neo also smiled as she gestured him to follow her. Watts followed her, and due to his now escaped, he can carry on with the plan.

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Team RWBY Ironwood, Penny, Winter, and Clover were in the dining room along with the council members, Robyn and Jacques, who was now under arrest thanks to the video shown by Weiss. However, Clover suddenly heard something from his earpiece and as he heard what was on the other end of it, his face showed shock, Clover ran to Ironwood,

"Sir we have some problems!" Clover cried

"what it is?" Ironwood asked

"The Heat in Mantle is off and worse... Arthur Watts has escaped" Clover said

Everyone in the room was surprised, but Ironwood was angry, "what!? How!?" Ironwood cried

"They're looking into it sir, but the cold down in Mantle has started Riots sir, the Grimm are on they're way" Clover responded

Everyone was shocked, Robyn looked to him, "general, we need to hurry down there and protect Mantle!" Robyn cried

Ironwood nodded, "But-!"

"James" Oscar interrupted "Our secrets are close to being revealed, it's time we tell them and Save Mantle while we can," Oscar told him

"and no matter what, we'll fight this together, and we stick together," Ruby told him

Ironwood look to them and nodded, "Right" Ironwood replied with a smile, "Councilmen, Ms. Hill, there's something I like to tell you" Ironwood told them

"Sir, what should we do?" Clover asked

"Clover, get the Ace-Ops ready, Your team, RWBY, ORNJ, and Qrow will go down there and help protect the people" Ironwood replied "

"Don't forget about me" Robyn butted in "My Huntresses will help as well," Robyn said

Ironwood nodded, "go now, While I inform Ms. Hill and the council about our enemy" Ironwood told them

"And me sir?" Winter asked

"Winter head back to the academy and find out how Watts escaped," Ironwood told her

Everyone nodded and headed out of the Schnee Manor, and for the cars to take them for the Bullheads, Oscar would be staying behind as the situation was too dangerous for him since he didn't have that much training. RNJ along with the Happy Huntresses got in one car as did the Ace Ops, but WBY was still waiting as they got to the first car, Ruby arrived later than her team but still made it in time before the cars took off for the Docks.

"What was taking you so long?" Blake asked

"Nothing, I just talked to Oscar about something" Ruby replied

"Talked to him about what?" Yang asked

Ruby didn't answer

"What did you talk to him about Ruby?" Yang asked again

"The Truth... he and I agreed that it was time to tell Ironwood the truth" Ruby replied

The other three in the car were stunned, but one was angry

"YOU WHAT!?" Yang cried

"Look, I thought now was the best time" Ruby replied

"Now!? NOW WAS THE BEST TIME!?" Yang cried "have you forgotten what's going on right now!? not to mention you didn't even ask the rest of us if we were ok with this!?"

"Look, I made the decision-"

"A stupid one!" Blake cried "what were you thinking!? If Ironwood takes this the wrong way then we're screwed!"

"But if he takes this the right way, then we're fine, it means he trusts us because we decided to do what Ozpin didn't and that was telling the truth" Ruby replied

Yang and Blake calmed down. and Yang looked back to her sister, "I'm sorry... I just... I just think you still should've asked us" Yang told her

"It's fine," ruby said

"Ruby... of this doesn't work out and you were wrong... I don't plan on following any more of your Ideas" Yang replied

Ruby looked a little hurt at the news but nodded, "alright" Ruby replied

* * *

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"Is that everyone from this part of the city!?" Ren cried out to his fellow teammates

Nora nodded, "Yeah, everyone's been evacuated to the safer side!" Nora responded

A Syber launched itself at Nora while she wasn't looking, but she quickly turned around and slammed it to the side and it hit the ground, it was slowly getting back up but Nora quickly put an end to it by bashing it over the head and into the concrete.

Jaune was killing some more Sybers from another street with great speed and swiftness, after killing one more he stopped and looked around to make sure the coast was clear, However, he failed to notice the Beowulf coming from the shadows until in charged right at him, June quickly turned around to kill it, but its head was already removed from its body and it fell dead at his feet. Jaune looked to his left and saw Fiona land and turn to him.

"Aren't you lucky you got an angel watching ya back?" Fiona asked with a smirk

Jaune smiled and nodded, "sure am" Jaune replied

Fiona chuckled, and they went up the street so they could regroup with Ren and Nora. Once they were together again, they had decided to go regroup with RWBY and the Ace-Ops, Fiona suddenly got a call from May.

"Who is it?" Nora asked

"My teammate, May" Fiona replied, she picked up the call and put it to her ear, "Hello?"

**[Fi! thank the gods you're ok! Where are you!? where's Robyn!?]** May asked on the other end

"Easy May, We're fine" Fiona replied "I'm down here trying to get the people to safety and Robyn's still up in Atlas with Ironwood"

**[good, we've been helping some of the soldiers here get rid of the Grimm, and we've heard that most of them are gone, what about your end?]** May asked

"We're closer to the broken part of the wall, we've cleared out most of the Grimm here, but we're still waiting to hear if Grimm are coming in" Fiona replied "Were going to Regroup with Jaune's friends and if things clear up I'll be heading back up with Robyn and then hopefully we'll come back home"

**[Alright, see you then Fi]** May said

"See you then lass" Fiona replied

Fiona ended the call and she looked to the other three huntsmen, "everything alright?" She asked

"Yeah, is everything alright with your friends?" Nora asked

"Yeah, they're fine, said the Grimm that managed to get that far was dealt with" Fiona replied "Any news from the others?"

"No, but we should still go regroup with them," Jaune said

Fiona nodded, "Then let's get going," Fiona told them

They all agreed and went to go regroup with team RWBY, however, as they were on their way, Jaune felt his scroll vibrate, he quickly took it out of his pocket and looked to see it was a text.

**_Neo: {I got him, we're heading down to Mantle now}_ **

**_Neo: {what's next?}_ **

Jaune looked to the two texts, and if everything was going to plan so far then Jaune could indeed win this little game without both sides knowing, but for now, he would give her the details once he made it back to Atlas. If he was right and he hoped he was, both sides were about to make their major moves, He just hoped that it was the right moves or else everything would be going down the drain...

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**Big news! I just wanna say that This will be continued in a second story. So, we still have a few more chapters of this story before Book 2.**


	13. Death's hold

**A/N: Sorry I haven't posted in a while! been busy with other projects but hey! New Chapter! So who's ready for it!?**

**Before we do begin though, I do want to play a little game, Someone told me it would be interesting if Jaune did go back on one of his promises in this story, and I do agree that would be quite interesing~!**

**Jaune had made two promises, one to Fiona and one to himself.**

**He promised Fione that he would be safe and alive**

**He promised himself that he was going to stop Watts and Tyrian for good**

**Which one do you think He'll go back on?**

**But now back to the story!**

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For now, everyone regrouped back at Atlas, as everyone was waiting for Ironwood's orders and what to do next. While RWBY, The Ace-Ops, Qrow, and Ironwood were planning things out, The leader of team ORNJ was currently thinking about his next moves. If he was right, Watts would assume that he was choosing their side, while still acting as if he worked with everyone else on Ironwood's side. Before he could do anything else, he needed to know what the plan was going forward.

"Jaune? You ok?" Nora asked

Jaune looked to her, "yeah... I'm fine Nora"

"You sure? You looked like you were thinking really hard there?" She asked

"I'm fine Nora... I just need some time alone" Jaune said

He walked away from his teammates and walked down the hall for a while. As he walked down the hall he grabbed his Scroll and texted Neo that they needed to lay low until he got the plans, and also to keep him informed about what Cinder was planning. He then headed back to his room to think. He set his weapons to the side and just sat on his bed thinking and waiting. Once he heard what the plan was he could figure out a way to both counteract it as well as inform Watts and counteract whatever scheme he came up with.

"Hey there kid" Came a gruff voice

Jaune was startled and he quickly looked to his doorway to find Qrow. Jaune somewhat still wasn't fond of the man but Jaune could admit he respected him. Qrow came into his room and saw on Ren's bed which was opposite of Jaune.

"What do you want Qrow?" Jaune asked, sounding a little peeved

"You know, you got the same look that Oz used to have whenever he had to make a hard decision," Qrow said

Jaune was now confused, "what does that mean?"

"It means you're about to make a hard decision or thinking about doing one, just like Oz," Qrow told him "Can I tell you, something kid?" Qrow asked

Jaune looked at him and sighed "sure, whatever" Jaune replied

"As you know, I've been playing this little game with Oz for a long time, even before you were born, and let me tell you, for those of us who play this game, trust me when I say that death is just a few steps behind us, but for the people Like Oz, Jimmy, and Summer... Even Ruby and you, the leaders who think they have to carry the weight of the world on their shoulders... Well death comes quicker"

Jaune looked at him, "You don't think I know that? One wrong move by any leader might mean the death of them and their team, I've thought about that since I was given the position" Jaune told him

"True, I'm sure Ruby also thought the same way, but the way I see it right now, you got something big planned, something that could end either good or bad, I should know as I said, Oz had the same look," Qrow told him, "I told you that death is just a few steps behind us, well from what I'm seeing now, and how odd you've been behaving recently, the way I see it, death's got his hands wrapped around your neck kid... and he ain't ever letting go," Qrow said

Qrow then got up and was making his way to the door, hoping that the kid would take his words in. He was halfway out the door when:

"Qrow?"

"Yeah, kid?"

"If you had to make a decision that could save the people you love but they would hate you in return... would you take it?"

Qrow thought about it for a moment, but a smirk graced his face, "As long as they are safe... I'd take it" Qrow replied before leaving the blonde's room and leaving Jaune once again in deep thought.

* * *

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Back with The Happy Huntresses, Robyn and Fiona had arrived back and they were discussing the next course of action with May and Joanna

"So Ironwood finally told the Council about Salem?" Joanna asked

Robyn nodded, "yeah, I went along with acting surprised for Jaune's sake... but there's something else going on here"

"what do you mean?" May asked

"Watts that guy that was the cause of the warehouse blackout, they had got him when he met up with Jaune, and somehow during the night, he escaped" Robyn replied

"what!? But how!?" Fiona cried

"I'm wondering that myself" Robyn replied "It's a bold move to break into Atlas Academy, not to mention almost impossible to escape with all the Huntsmen and Huntresses in training being there"

"Could it be that Tyrian guy that busted him out?" Jonna chimed in

Fiona shook her head, "No, he's crazy, but not that crazy... it had to be someone who could get past everyone without bein' seen" Fiona told them

"So maybe it's another one of their friends?" May piped in

"Possible, and Jaune might know who if it was anyone else," Fiona told them

Robyn was in deep thought, Fiona was right that it had to be someone that could easily sneak past the guards. Either with familiarity or they had the semblance to turn invisible, she was guessing Jaune freed him in order to get some information out of him, but he was with them when they got there and if Watt's escaped earlier, Ironwood would've been notified then, so it at to be some new person and if it was Jaune or his friends might know who.

"We need to talk to Jaune or one of his friends, they might know who it could be," Robyn said

"Good idea, I'll give him a call," Fiona said

"No, we need to do it in person, I don't want it being over a scroll," Robyn told her "text him that we need to talk to him or at least one of his friends"

Fiona looked to her and nodded. Robyn still thought there was something else going on if the person that broke Watts out had gotten in, did that mean they knew the layout of the school? it was not easy to get around a huntsman academy, you'd have to at least be there for a few weeks to know, and for someone to know where the academy also held prisoners waiting for a court date must mean they had been at the academy before or was given access on where to go. However, it was possible that Watts might have guessed he could've been caught so he could've handed some instructions to another one of his companions in the case he was captured. There were a lot of possibilities but the first two seemed more likely. The question again was who was it? They would just have to wait until they could speak with Jaune or any of his friends.


	14. Gravity

**A/N: Forgive me for today's chapter, I had skipped over a lot and there really isn't much action in this chapter, however, I will say that we only have one chapter left in the story before I move on to Book 2.**

**What to expect in the next chapter you may ask?**

**Well, Tyrian and Jaune will have their fight, The truth will be revealed about Jaune's plan, and some other things**

**Anyways enjoy**

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Jaune was currently on his way to go pick up the Happy Huntresses. After Ironwood had found Cinder's calling card, he lost trust in Team RWBY and declared martial law. Which was a major downside to Jaune's plan. Ironwood had taken an extreme action that Jaune should've know he was going to take! now, without a doubt, he would be trying to get Atlas away from whatever Mess Tyrian and Watts had planned or whatever had happened in his office. He didn't know what happened to Tyrian and Watts, but he was sure that Tyrian was no doubt having the time of his life due to both Qrow and Clover going after him. another problem was also trying to get to Qrow and Robyn, however, they didn't know where their Bullhead had crashed. so far things weren't looking so good, but then again, this was what Jaune had to deal with. He had chosen to live with the outcome of the plan no matter what

Before everything went wrong, Jaune sat alone in his room and sitting on his bed. Everyone else was out doing whatever, however, Jaune just couldn't even think about sleeping because tomorrow would be the day everything could come together but again at what risk? What would be the price and most of all could he live with the outcome of the plan if it succeeded or failed? He knew he was too deep in to go back now, he needed to finish what he started...

"Must be so hard, trying to play the hero while knowing that you could endanger thousands of lives"

Jaune looked across from him to see Cinder, but not the current one, the Cinder in front of him looked just like she did when he had seen her in beacon. A smile graced her lips and a smug expression was clear as day on her face

"Your not real," Jaune said as he clutched his head

"Maybe, Maybe not" Cinder replied "However, that doesn't really matter, does it? not with what you plan on doing"

"Shut up!" Jaune cried "I least I'm trying to save people instead of destroying and killing!"

"But you don't know that do you? If your plan works, your little girlfriend and your friends will be safe, but if everything goes wrong, we both know that blood will be on your hands" Cinder said "and they will be stained forever"

"It'll work," Jaune told her with a glare

"Come now Mr. Arc, we all know the hard truth"

Jaune's eyes widened as he looked to his side and his eyes fell upon the figure of Ozpin, the version of him that he knew at Beacon.

"Oh Oum..." Jaune sighed with sadness "I'm going insane"

"I would say so Mr. Arc, after all this plan of yours is rather risky," Ozpin told him "Didn't you want to be better than me? you didn't want secrets, you didn't want to be manipulated, yet what have you been doing?" Opin asked

"I am nothing like you," Jaune said through gritted teeth

"Really? come now Jaune, we know that is a lie" Cinder chimed in

Ozpin nodded in agreement, "You've been hiding your plans from your friends, you've been manipulating everyone for things to work in your favor," Ozpin said, "how is that not like me?"

Jaune looked at them and his head fell in defeat, he didn't want to hear it, but he knew it was true. Every word they said was true. If his plan failed so many people would die, and their blood would be on his hands. He wouldn't be better than Cinder, he'd be just the same. He was already like Ozpin, keeping secrets from his loved ones, his friends, and allies, he manipulated people, both friend, and enemy to make sure it would work in his favor. In truth, he'd be just as bad as the people he despised, and he'd do the things he told himself he never would do.

However, he needed to do it.

He'd be the monster, he'd be the traitor, he'd be whoever they needed him to be. He is the Leader of ORNJ and therefore he needed to make sure his team survived and prospered till the very end, even if he had to risk his own life. He was an Arc, which meant he needed to be a warrior and he needed to do the things that no one else was brave enough to do. Most of all, he was a huntsman, which meant he needed to protect others no matter the cost, even if he was branded as a criminal, a traitor, and a murderer.

"You do this, Mr. Arc, and you can never come back from it," Ozpin told him

"I'm Aware"

"and your truly ready to be the monster that they will make you out to be? to be the man who'd be known as a traitor to those he loved?" Cinder asked

"I'm ready"

"Well then... do what must be done Jaune," Both said

Jaune closed his eyes as he wiped away some tears forming only to open his eyes and see that Cinder and Ozpin were gone. Jaune looked to the ground as more tears formed in his eyes before falling from his eyes and onto the floor of his dorm

"Brothers forgive me..." Jaune begged

Jaune then pulled out his scroll and video-called Watts and Neo, once they answered, Jaune told them the plan

Watts looked at him with a questioned look, "Tell me the plan again Mr. Arc?" Watts asked

Neo also looked at him

"The Plan is for you to get to the Amity Arena and hack into it making sure Ironwood can't tell the world, while Neo goes after the Relic for Cinder, and if Cinder gets the Winter Maidens powers, then she can get the Relic of Creation and If this all works out Atlas is Salem's," Jaune said

"And if it doesn't?" Watt's said

"then we fail" Jaune said

In actuality, Jaune knew that once Watt's stepped foot in Amity arena he would be spotted and Ironwood or whoever would go after him, not to mention it would take Watts a while to hack into Amity's system due to Jaques code being shut down and having it changed by Pietro and getting to the maiden would be hard since Cinder would have to look all over Atlas academy and if it took long enough then she could be trapped in it while almost every soldier and Huntsmen was there, getting the relic was easy and was the best option and Jaune hoped at least that part actually succeded because Salem if the relic was given to Salem, she wouldn't know how to summon Jinn, so it was fine that she got the relic since she knew she couldn't get the knowledge she wanted.

"While the Plan is a work in progress and could fail in many ways, what if Ironwood goes to the extreme?" Watts asked

"Like what?"

"Martial law"

Jaune had thought about it but he doubts it could happen for many reasons. Ironwood would need a good reason besides a few criminals, not to mention, he could only declare martial law if a huge threat was in the city or on its way, which Jaune very much doubted would happen if his plan worked.

"I doubt it, there's no true threat he could declare martial law for" Jaune replied

At this, Jaune noticed Watts smirking, Jaune looked at him with confusion and a bit of worry.

"unless there's something I don't know Watts" Jaune told him "what's with the look?"

"No, Nothing at all, I'm just surprised how well you've at least thought this through," Watts said

Jaune looked at him with suspicion and a part of him got the feeling that Watt's was hiding something, but Jaune pushed that thought back. He knew Watts wouldn't hide anything from him due to what he had done for the hacker, but then again, even your supposed "allies" can lie to you.

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Tyrian got up and saw the scene before him, the old bird didn't have his weapon and now had just broken through the soldier's aura. Tyrian smiled as he looked around and found Qrow's weapon

_'Perfect'_ Tyrian thought

Tyrian slowly approached as he heard the little argument that Qrow was having with Clover

"Why couldn't you just do the right thing!? Instead of doing what you were told!?" Qrow cried

Tyrian smiled, of course, no doubt the old bird was a bit heartbroken having to fight a friend. Poor old bird, not many friends left, and those that he makes always end up hating him or hurting him.

Tyrian then blocked out the rest of the conversation that the two were having and then he plunged Qrow's sword through Clovers back before taking it out. The soldier stumbled forward a little before falling on the ground and his blood leaked from the wound

Qrow looked in shock and horror before turning to anger and looking to Tyrian "I'll kill you!" Qrow cried

Tyrian smiled and looked at him "Oh, you mean like you just killed Clover?"

Then Tyrian and Qrow heard a Bullhead approching their destination.

"ah, here they come! right on time" Tyrian said with a chuckle

Qrow charged at him and tried to punch him but Tyrian could tell he wasn't trying and it was a desperate attempt so he jumped back.

"Look's like our score will have to wait! you know my track record with the authorities!" Tyrian said as he laughed and ran away.

Tyrian kept running until he was back in Mantle. Now he had a much bigger score to settle with a certain Knight. Knowing him, he would come to rescue his dear sweet little lamb, and he would be waiting for him. After all, The Knight made a promise, and Tyrian recalled that apparently, Arcs never go back on their word.

_'it's time to finally see if my interest was well placed!'_ Tyrian thought as he ran around Mantle looking for the one person he needed


	15. A Knight's fall

**A/N: As we are in the last chapter of this part of the story I do have some news about book 2 of "A Happy Huntresses"**

**1\. Book 2 will pick off where this one ends with Fiona's perspective.**

**2\. The Volume 8 timeline of this story won't be taking place in 2 days since it will differ from volume 8 completely and Book 2 will not be released until the end of Volume 8 so that way I know what I can change to fit with this story**

**3\. Book two will not focus as heavily on Jaune at all.**

**Anyway, back to the story!**

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Finally, they had arrived at Mantle to pick up the huntresses before going back to their base to figure out a plan. Nora looked out the side to spot the group, she saw that they were waiting by the large Crater where Atlas once was.

"I see them!" Nora cried

Maria heard her and saw them as well, she then slowly went around before landing smoothly on the snowy ground. the side door opened up and the Huntresses ran to the Bullhead. Jaune looked out and saw Fiona running to him, Jaune hopped out and ran up to her they hugged for a brief moment before breaking it

"what the hell happened Jaune?" Fiona asked

"Ironwood, he went off his fucking rocker," Jaune said with a hint of anger

"Where's Robyn?" Jaune heard Joanna asked

"We don't know, she was with Qrow and Maria told us that their bullhead crashed, were heading over there to see if She and Qrow are still there," Jaune told her

Joanna nodded as She and May left to hop on the Bullhead, Jaune, and Fiona were right behind them, but hen a shot from behind them stopped the both of them in their tracks before a familiar voice called out

"Jaune Miles Arc! Son of Ron Arc!"

Jaune turned around only to see the one person he despised as much as Cinder. Tyrian stood there with his arms to his side and that maniac grin on his face.

"It's time we face each other!" Tyrian cried

Fiona looked at Tyrian with anger and pulled out her weapon, Jaune did the same but looked to Fiona

"Fiona, I wanna thank you," Jaune told her

Fiona turned to him with a bit of confusion, "thank me for what?" she asked

"For everything, thanks for helping care about something I haven't cared for in a while, and most of all, thank you for loving a person like me," Jaune told her

"Jaune... why are you-?"

But before she could finish that sentence, Jaune grabbed her and threw her into the Bullhead with the others. She landed on her back as Ren, Nora, and Ruby stared at him with worry and confusion along with everyone else. Fiona got back up and looked to him with bewilderment

"Take care, everyone! Now go find Qrow and Robyn!" Jaune cried out to them

"Jaune no!" Nora cried

Nora and Ruby tried to get out but were held back by Yang and Ren. Fiona then got up but she was stopped by Joanna

"What are ya two doin'!? Jaune needs our help!" Fiona cried

"The bullhead can't stay here long, we needed to get going, he knows that, if we stay in one place for too long, Ironwood will know it's us!" Joanna cried

"NO! We can't leave Jaune!" Nora cried "Not with him!"

"Nora we have to-"

"No! He's gonna die just like Pyrrha!" Nora cried

But it was too late, the Bullhead began to ascend into the sky as Jaune waved goodbye with a small smile but Ruby, Nora, and Fiona cried out and begged them not to take off without Jaune. but it was already leaving the area and flying across the city into the horizon. Jaune watched it go before turning back to Tyrian.

"Foolish to fight me alone but I am glad to finally have another one-on-one with each other" Tyrian said with a giggle

"So not we have a chance to talk my I ask you something," Jaune asked

"Ask away dear Knight, it's only fitting since one of us will die here" Tyrian replied

"Why did you say you found me interesting, what did you see in me?" Jaune asked

Tyrian smiled, "You remind me of your father," Tyrian said

Jaune was shocked, "you knew my father?" Jaune asked

"Who do you think it was that captured me and handed me over to Atlas?" Tyrian asked with a chuckle "Ron Arc, true huntsmen worthy of beating me, he wasn't as cocky as most huntsmen I met, He and the old Qrow actually have the skill to back up their smugness"

"So what, you wanna fight me for revenge?" Jaune asked

"No, No, No, sweet boy, I wanna fight you because I wanna see what Ron's son is capable of" Tyrian chuckled, "your father head so much fighting spirit! and when I fought you I could sense the same aura he had yet yours was stronger, but when we fought in mistral I noticed you were only just a beginner yet you still fought like him in some way"

"So, you just wanna see if I'm like my dad huh?" Jaune asked

"No, I wanna see if you're better!" Tyrian cackled

Tyrian then threw his arms to the side un his weapons flung out and his robot all sprung to life and Tyrian charged Jaune with such speed that it matched Qrow's, however, Jaune quickly sprung into action and blocked the incoming strike of Tyrian's bracers with his shield, Tyrian quickly jumped over back as Jaune went for a stab, Tyrian quickly struck Jaune in the chest but Jaune's Aura blocked the attack.

Just then Tyrian put his aura into his hand and swiped Jaune Aura away, and then quickly cutting him at his midriff, Jaune winced a little but quickly used the opportunity to strike at Tyrian. Jaune quickly focused his aura into his sword hand to give an extra boost when swinging, Jaune swung right and right at Tyrians face, but it was blocked by his tail, however, Jaune's sword had cut halfway into the tail. the two quickly pulled back their respective weapons and looked at each other again.

"Nice touch, adding aura to your attacks, I had almost forgotten how smart you Arc's were!" Tyrian cried

Tyrian then thrust his tail at Jaune but Jaune quickly moved out of the way, bit felt a kick to his left side and Jaune cried in pain, before feeling the tips of Tyrian's bracers strike into his armor. Jaune fell to the ground and looked to see Tyrian quickly go for another strike with his tail, however, Jaune quickly rolled away just as the tip it the ground, Jaune used the opportunity to cut at the rest of Tyrian's tail. Jaune once gain focused his aura into his hand and sliced at Tyrian's tail, cutting it off.

Tyrian flipped backward away from Jaune giving the Knight enough time to get up before charging at Tyrian. Tyrian quickly saw this and dodged Jaune's attacks with ease, Tyrian once quickly ducked under a strike from Jaune and used his bracer to cut at Jaune's leg with a lot of force. Jaune felt the strike but ignored the pain and went to Knee Tyrian in the face but the Scorpion Faunus had already jumped away from before Jaune could land the blow, Tyrian jumped in the air and landed behind Jaune, Jaune then felt another sharp pain as Tyrian's bracers dug into his shield arm, Jaune quickly turned his sword around like he held a dagger and went for a stab but it was blocked due to Tyrians Aura.

Tyrian smiled again and quickly removed his right bracer from Jaune's arm and dodged the blade once again and kicked Jaune in the back of his left leg causing the boy to kneel again, Tyrian went for a killing blow as he was going to stab the back of Jaune's neck, But Jaune's aura flared up and blocked it, the sudden slash of light stunned Tyrian for a split second, and Jaune quickly used the distraction and held his sword and swiped at Tyrian, but only managed to break off the top end of his bracer blade on his left hand, Jaune then quickly went for another strike but only managed to graze Tyrian's aura. Tyrian quickly regained himself after the two blows and kicked Jaune in the stomach sending him close to the edge of the crater, Jaune got up only to get sliced across the face by Tyrian'sright bracer, luckily it had only cut the left side of his cheek

"I must say, you've at least gotten better since Mistral" Tyrian said with a chuckle

Jaune was about to get up but Tyrian elbowed him in the head sending him crashing back into the ground

"Get up Jaune... make me disappointed... don't make my interest for you be in vain" Tyrian said

Jaune then hit Tyrian in the ankle with the side of his shield, causing Tyrian to wince in pain Jaune quickly let go of his shield and got up, he raised his sword above his head to go for a killing strike but Tyrian regained himself and quickly stabbed Jaune deep in his left side with his bracer.

Jaune felt so much pain enter his body as Tyrian had stabbed him and Jaune slowly let his hands fall to his side. Tyrian looked at him and saw the fight die within Jaune's face. Tyrian now felt truly disappointed

"You really have disappointed me Jaune Arc, and my heart breaks for you," Tyrian said

Tyrian then shot off two rounds into Jaune's side and Tyrian felt the boy's body struggle with the pain as his bracer was still lodged in his side

"And so... The Knight falls," Tyrian said

However, Tyrian looked to the boy's face only to see a smile make its way onto it, this confused Tyrian for a moment before he finally realized what had just happened as a jolt went through his body.

Tyrian looked down to his left side only to see that the boy's sword had stabbed him Tyrian could see that the blade had gone all the way through his side as the guard was pressed against his side. Tyrian coughed up a little blood as his crazed smile made its way on his face.

"You let me stab you on purpose" Tyrian chuckled

Jaune softly nodded, "I... knew I couldn't beat you by just fighting you, so I had to trick you..." Jaune said as he too let a little blood fall from his mouth "You're on a different level than I am so I had no chance of winning and I knew that... but as long as I could do this and kill you... Then it was a win for the others"

Jaune then pulled his sword out as Tyrian slowly did the same with his bracer. Tyrian fell back and slowly slid against a rock. Tyrian then chuckled before it slowly erupted into full-blown crazed laughter

"You really are better than your father! You really are better than me!" Tyrian cried as he coughed up more blood and more blood leaked from his wound

Jaune huffed as the pain in his side had slowly become excruciating.

"But I got you!" Tyrian cried with a bloody smile "I got you! I got you!"

Jaune walked away and went to go grab his shield as Tyrian kept laughing, However, Jaune could feel getting weaker, He could heal the shallow wounds with his aura but he didn't have enough to boost himself with his semblance, and the last wounds Tyrian had inflicted were too deep

"I got you!" Tyrian still cried out "your friends and your little lamb will know! They will know that I'm the man who killed their precious Knight! I'm the man that Jaune Arc" Tyrian laughed Once more

Jaune was now by his shield, however, Jaune also felt his body getting weaker as he kept walking forward past his shield and dropped his sword on the ground. Jaune's body limped forward more before falling to his knees.

Jaune was now at the edge of the crater. Jaune activated his aura to try and heal at least some of the deeper wounds but his body grew weak and he could feel his eyes getting heavy. Jaune could not stand the pain anymore and he lost consciousness as he fell forward, falling down into the deep crater... Never to be seen again...

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**To Be Continued in Book 2...**


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